


A Touch of Wings

by teh_gelfling



Category: Transformers - All Media Types, Transformers Generation One
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Egg-preg, F/M, Knotting, Mind Rape, Multi, Non-Consensual Oral Sex, Original Character(s), Oviposition, Past Rape/Non-con, Past Torture, Please Don't Kill Me, Sexual Abuse, There Aren't Enough Female Characters, Threesome - F/M/M, Transformer Sparklings, Wartime Cybertron, and I love my OCs
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-25
Updated: 2018-08-19
Packaged: 2018-09-19 20:01:41
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 22
Words: 43,135
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9458345
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/teh_gelfling/pseuds/teh_gelfling
Summary: A surviving Praxian is found in the bowels of a Decepticon installation and is brought back to Iacon. This is her story.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Yes, this is an OC-centric fic. Don't kill me. It was based off a livejournal kinkmeme post asking for an OC, it just doesn't quite fit the spirit of the prompt any more I don't think.
> 
> I'll try to do weekly updates as writing - and life - allows. This one will update on Wednesdays. Comments, questions, and random conversation welcome.

**::Meister. Phantom and I have picked up a, um, minor complication.::**

The black and white leader of the SpecOps team took the time to finish setting his most recent explosive charge before answering the heavily encrypted comm. **::Whaddya mean, 'complication?' Yer still gonna get out on time, right?::**

**::Getting out shouldn't be a problem. No time to explain now. See you at the rendezvous.::**

Jazz shoved aside his curiosity. He'd find out sooner or later, likely sooner, but for now the Decepticon outpost had to go. He finished setting his last charges and hightailed it out.

*

Skidding in beside Bumblebee where he was hidden behind a scrapped building far enough out from the 'Con base to be mostly protected from the coming blast, Jazz asked, “Where's Mirage?”

Bee's mouth twisted into a grim caricature of a smile as he replied. “I made an executive decision and sent him on to Iacon. Our 'complication' needed a medic in a bad way and none of us are equipped to handle that kind of damage. Mirage's the fastest; he'll get her there in time.”

Jazz snorted. “'Executive decision.' Wait. _Her?_ The 'Cons had a _femme?_ Glitching spawn of a Quintesson!”

He was still railing at the Decepticons when the base exploded.

*

**::Iacon headquarters, this is Autobot Mirage. I am returning from a mission with a passenger in need of immediate medical attention. Have CMO Ratchet standing by.::**

It took a few tense moments as he sped on toward the city-base for the computers to process and verify his ident codes. **::Acknowledged, Autobot Mirage. Please state the nature of the medical emergency.::**

If he'd been in root mode, he would have rolled his optics. **::Assumed Neutral femme, unknown frame type. Heavy damage.::**

The mech on comms duty started to ask more inane questions but was interrupted by the CMO himself. **::What's her status, Mirage?::**

**::Terrible. She's in stasis lock. Her plating's mostly stripped to protoform, and what's left is scorched, likely from an energon whip. It's not difficult to guess she's been tortured, Ratchet, and probably for some time. Her energon levels are lower than I've seen in anyone still alive.::**

A chuff of air through vents sounded over the comm. **::Understood. Bring her directly to medibay and don't let anyone stop you. I've given orders, but there's some idiots around here that still think they have more authority.::** There was a slight emphasis on 'some' that seemed to be directed at the comms mech.

Mirage gave a grim chuckle. **::On my way.::**

*

Ratchet was still in the Isolation ward when Prowl stepped into medibay. He stood patiently by the door, watching the medics work through the large window into the ward. One of the junior medics eventually looked up and noticed the officer, then clearly said something to his superior. Ratchet's helm turned briefly in his direction and the click of the door unlocking sounded in his audials.

Surprised, he entered the room. The chief medic waved him over and he moved to stand at the end of the berth. As he neared, he felt a familiar, though faint, tingling sensation wash over him and his doorwings fluttered faintly. He pushed the natural reaction down and asked, “How is she?”

“Better than when she arrived. She'll probably survive. That's assuming she can mentally handle whatever the 'Cons did to her and doesn't suicide when she wakes.” Ratchet sighed and pulled a rag from subspace, wiping his hands down. “She's a mess, Prowl, and not just physically. I haven't been able to make helm or aft out of her coding, it's been tampered with so much. And with her frame in the shape it is, we can't even take clues from that to see where she's from.”

“Praxus.”

“You seem pretty sure about that.”

Ice blue optics met the aqua ones of the medic. “I am. Her coding may be a mess, as you say, but it's intact enough to identify her as Praxian to others. Don't give me that look. You know as well as I that since there are so few of us left, our coding 'calls' other Praxians.”

“Oh, I know,” Ratchet said, lewd smirk on his lips and amusement positively dripping from the words. “That scene you and Blue made the first time you met...”

“Is best not spoken of aloud. Or preferably at all.” Prowl's wings swept back in embarrassment and he fixed the medic with a glare.

“Yeah, yeah. It was cute.” Ratchet laughed him off as they left the Isolation unit. “Well, that does make things a bit easier for me now.”

A silver brow ridge arched. “How so?”

Ratchet moved over to the sink and began washing the fluids and grime from his hands.  
“I'm no specialist, but I know what Praxian coding is supposed to look like. And I have a rough idea of frametype, so we can get basic armour fabricated and make repairs more efficiently. I'll set 'Jack on the armour here in a bit and rope Perceptor into helping me sort out her coding next cycle. I'm beat.” He dried off and clapped a hand on the shorter mech's shoulder. “What say we get some energon?”

“Aren't you still on call?” Prowl asked as he twisted out from under the appendage.

“I just suggested energon in general, not high-grade. Besides, First Aid’s got the medibay this shift.” He got the distinct impression that Prowl was rolling his optics without him actually doing it.

“With you, Ratchet, it's _always_ high-grade.”

“Guess you'll just have to have mine for me, huh?” Ratchet grinned at the fearsome look he was given, not at all intimidated. “C'mon, mech, you've _got_ to let go sometimes. Primus. Do you ever have fun?”

“I believe our definitions of 'fun' differ somewhat. I see no point in getting overcharged.”

“It's just one drink, Prowl! Worst that'll happen is you get a nice little buzz.”

“We've had this conversation previously, Ratchet. How many times have you succeeded?”

“One of these days,” the medic threatened. “I swear it. I'll get you drinking. And don't expect me to stop you at one. Then I'll record everything, and there'll be nothing you can do about it.”

“I'm sure.” This time there was a definite eyeroll.

*

Return to consciousness was an abrupt thing, as though someone had flipped a switch. She came to with a start, jerking upright with a frightened squeak. An electronic wail filled the small room as one of the many devices around her went into alarm mode after disconnecting from the system it had been set to monitor. Protoform-grey limbs jerked asynchronously, and her slight frame slid off the medical berth to crumple on the floor.

Panic-bright optics widened as the cacophony grew with more screeching and beeping, and she scrabbled across the decking to the farthest corner away from all the noise. She huddled there, shaking, curled into as tight a ball as she could manage, hands covering her audials and whatever parts of her helm she could manage.

She jerked and screamed when someone touched her arm, not even bothering to look at her assailant. It was probably that scary-crazy mech again, the one with the visor and mask. He seemed to visit more often than any of the others.

A second hand joined the first and they shifted to grip her upper arms firmly but not painfully. She thrashed wildly, screaming until her vocaliser shorted out. The room was plunged into near-silence with the abrupt cessation of her screams, and she could hear quiet, urgent-sounding conversation close by. She recognised none of the voices, which prompted her to open her optics to find out who her new tormentor was.

Visor, check. Facemask, check. But this wasn't the same mech. The visor was blue, not red. The helm was red instead of grey. Her gaze was drawn to his chest and there, oh, Primus, there was a red blocky face there instead of the angular purple thing that had been haunting her for far too long. Her entire frame went limp in relief, cleansing fluid welling in her optics.

Different.

Safe?

Maybe.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aw, shiznit. I forgot to post yesterday, so instead of making y'all wait another week, I'll just post a day late. Happy Thursday!

“I... I don't know.”

“You don't know your own designation?” Ratchet asked as he frowned over the readouts on his scanner.

“...No?” Her tone was full of uncertainty, making what should have been a statement into a question. “I mean, I know I should, and I'm pretty sure I have one, but I don't _remember_.” Her helm tilted a bit to the side as the medic poked around her frame, watching him intently. “What are you doing now?”

“Trying to make sure all your sensors are working.” He stuck a finger into the joint behind her knee. “That doesn't hurt, does it?”

“Should it? It just kind of feels... weird.” Pale gold optics peered at the digit. “Like a bit of pressure. I can feel it, but it's not hurting.”

“Uncomfortable pressure, or just you-know-it's-there pressure?”

“Yeah. The second, I mean.”

“Hrm, might have to recalibrate your entire sensor net. Can you feel this?”

“What?”

“I’ll take that as a no.” He sighed and continued his examination, occasionally making notes on a small data-slate. “Definitely have to recalibrate. Not until we get your wings finished, though. Be pointless to do a full calibration when we'll just have to turn around and do it all over again.”

A few minutes later, the femme inhaled sharply as her frame went rigid. Ratchet looked at her in curiosity – he hadn't been touching her at all – then movement beyond her just inside the doors caught his attention. Understanding dawned and he couldn't help the small, amused smile.

“Prowl. Quit skulking. If you have business with me, get your aft over here. If not, get your aft out of my medibay.” Though his tone was harsh, his manner made it clear to the tactician that he was teasing, but the femme on the berth didn't know him enough to catch on.

“I am hardly skulking." Prowl approached with his wings set at a formal welcoming position. "My business is less with you and more with your patient. Is she capable of leaving the 'bay yet? I'm certain she would appreciate a change of scenery.” He addressed her directly. “Is that not correct?”

“W-well, yes,” she said quietly, clearly flustered, her face brightening with a faint tinge of pink. “I suppose I would, but–”

“You're not going to take her to your quarters and ravish her, are you, Prowl?” Ratchet winked in the young femme's direction and grinned at his friend, thoroughly enjoying the reaction.

The black and white, predictably, spluttered indignantly, all formality shocked out of him. “NO! Primus, Ratchet! Why – What – Why would you even _ask_ me that?”

“Well, what else would your intentions be? You sneak into my medibay, trying to steal my patient away to places unknown? Makes a mech wonder.” Ratchet grinned.

“Your sense of humour is despicable, Ratchet. And grossly out of line. Look at her. Your 'joking' may have traumatised her for life."

Indeed, the femme sat on the berth, hands clasped tightly in her lap, face as pale as any Ratchet had ever seen, refusing to look up. The medic imagined that if she'd had sensory panels at the moment, they would be clamped as low and tight to her frame as possible. Her field certainly was.

“Slaggit. Hey, kiddo. I'm sorry. I'm not going to ask you to forgive me. Not sure you should. I wasn't thinking, and that was an awful thing for me to say. I was trying to get a rise out of Prowl, here, but I really shouldn't have said that.”

“It s-seems to ha-ave worked admirably,” came the hesitant and stuttered reply. She still wouldn't look at him and she flinched every time either of them shifted.

“Well, you can take her for a short walk, if she wants. You going to be okay to walk a bit, scraplet?”

She gave an affirmative hum. “I mm-might need something to h-hold on to, though. It's a little di-isorienting standing, and without my wings...”

“I can assist you, if you wish. It would be no trouble.” Prowl offered a small smile, very faint and fleeting, but still there.

The femme flicked her gaze up at him, then back down, lips curving into the tiniest of soft smiles. “Thank you.”

“All right, get out of here before I purge. Be careful with her, you, or I'll give you a nice dent in the helm. Her systems aren't fully stable yet.” Ratchet levelled a look at the tactician that brooked no argument.

“Feeling protective, Ratchet?”

“Yes. And if you don't go now, you're not going at all. Shoo.” He did, slowly and cautiously, help the femme down off the berth and made sure she could stand, his careful manner belying the threats.

Prowl nodded to the medic and guided his companion out the door and into the corridor. “There are a few mechs who would like to meet you. Ratchet, however, has restricted access to the medibay only to those who are in dire need of repair or maintenance. As such, they've had no chance to check up on you personally.” His voice was kept to a low volume, but a full and rich tenor, and she decided that she liked it.

She smiled. “Do these mystery mechs have designations, um, Prowl? That is what Ratchet called you, isn't it?”

His optics brightened. “My apologies, I haven't introduced myself at all, have I? I am indeed Prowl. Please forgive my lapse in etiquette. May I inquire as to your designation?”

“I don't know it. My memories are kind of a jumble right now. It's confusing to have designations in my processor, but no sense of who they belong to.”

White wings dipped fractionally. “Perhaps a temporary designation would be acceptable?”

“Sure. The question is, what?”

“My friends may be of help with that.” He stopped outside a rather nondescript door and punched a code into the keypad beside it.

She tensed. Involuntarily, but she really didn't know anything about this mech. What if Ratchet was right and he was taking her somewhere to –

The door slid open, whisper-quiet on its track, revealing a small but well-appointed lounge. Sparse conversation and amused laughter hit her audials and she relaxed fractionally, though the unknown factor still caused her to shiver a bit.

Prowl caught the surreptitious motion and made a mental note to give the femme her space. No one was sure what she'd gone through as a Decepticon prisoner, but it was certain to have been... _unpleasant_ at the least. And that had to be the understatement of the vorn. “This is the officers' lounge on this level,” he informed her, gesturing for her to precede him. “It should be mostly empty at this hour. The majority are on duty right now.”

She cautiously stepped through the portal and looked around a bit nervously. A large red and blue mech sat scrunched at a table too small for his frame not far from the door, a cube of energon half-empty on the surface next to his hand. He seemed focussed on the datapad he held. Across the room, a group of three mechs – was that yellow one a minibot? – sat at another table. There was no one else in the space.

“Prowler!” The black and white of the three mech group called out and waved, catching the winged mech's attention.

Prowl led her across the room, pausing at the large mech's table to greet him. The younger Praxian assumed that this mech must be Prowl's superior, and if the respect in Prowl's tone and wingspeak was anything to go by, the mech was well-liked.

She felt his optics turn to her, studying her for a brief moment. “It is good to see you're doing well,” he said, optics crinkling up at the outer edges. He had to be smiling, though it was hard to tell with the battle-mask he wore. He refrained from standing, possibly so he wouldn't intimidate her, but even sitting, he was taller than she.

Her helm dipped in a small, respectful bow. “Thank you, sir. I am glad to be doing well enough to be allowed out of the medibay for a time. Ratchet is a skilled medic, but he is a bit...”

“I think the usual term to describe Ratchet is 'wrench-happy'.”

The femme looked at Prowl with an indecipherable expression, unsure whether to take the mech seriously or not. “I was going to say over-protective. I sense a story behind your term, though. You'll have to explain it sometime.”

The large mech chuckled. “If you're still in medibay by the time we next have a battle, you probably won't need an explanation. Particularly if the twins are involved.”

“Ratchet... has a bit of a temper when mechs are injured, especially if they take stupid risks that are more likely to get them killed. Which the twins tend to do,” Prowl expanded. “He has a tendency to throw things when sufficiently angered, also.”

Her optics widened in shock. “But-but he's a _medic_!”

“He's also been in a war that's dragged on fer far too long, an' lost a lotta patients on his table. Takes it personal-like, an' that wears on a mech. Ratch yells an' throws things because he cares 'bout us more'n is healthy an' don't wanna admit it. It's the times he's quiet an' serious when ya worry.” The visored black and white grinned as he approached. “Hi. 'M Jazz. Figured ya'd wanna be rescued from potentially borin' shop talk, but it sounds like they ain't doin' too much of that yet.”

“Actually, I have to get to the Command Centre. It was good to meet you.” The large mech turned out to be _huge_ mech when he was standing.

“A'ight. See ya later, Optimus.” Jazz waved jauntily at the mech as he took his leave, then turned back to focus on the femme. “So, how's 'bout you an' Prowler here join me an' my mechs at our table? I'll introduce ya, an' we can all get ta know each other.”

“That was the plan, Jazz.”

“Weren't asking you.” A flicker of the optic band. “I wouldn' dream of makin' assumptions. Maybe she don't wanna?”

Averted optics answered him. “Oh, um, no, that's okay. Prowl was going to introduce me to some friends of his anyway?”

“You've experienced Jazz already,” Prowl said with some amusement as they approached the table Jazz had been sitting at. “The other two mechs I wanted you to meet are Bumblebee and Mirage.” He gestured to each in turn.

She decided that she liked Bumblebee right off. He was a bit shorter than she, and his energy field just exuded friendliness. The bright smile he wore only added to the notion. Mirage, on the other hand, seemed far more reserved, though he did give her a polite smile and cordial, if formal, greeting.

“These are the mechs responsible for your escape from Decepticon captivity,” Prowl murmured in her audial.

Her optics paled. Brief snippets of memory streamed across her vision, and her vents caught, then raced right along with her fuel pump. Her hand gripped Prowl's forearm with a strength that dented the plating.

“...Y'okay, Sweetspark?” Jazz asked. “I need ta call Ratch?”

It took a moment, by the end of which the saboteur had the medic's frequency queued up to ping, but finally the memories released her. “N-no, please. I'm sorry. Um... Thank you? For getting me away from there. I don't... it was...” she trailed off, fidgeting badly and picking at a small seam in her arm.

“So, what do we call ya?”

“I... don't know. My memories are all jumbled up and I don't know what designation goes with which mecha.”

“We were wondering if any of you had suggestions for a temporary designation,” Prowl put in.

Jazz and Bumblebee grinned at each other and immediately started spouting off names, some ridiculous, some not so much, and all clearly with the intent to amuse. The young femme vetoed them all, giggling quietly once she calmed down from the sudden memory dump.

“Shimmer.”

All heads turned to Mirage as he spoke.

“Whassat?”

“Simply a suggestion. The femme I knew with that designation has no more use for it, and 'Shimmer' fits our young guest better than the atrocities you two are coming up with.” There was the tiniest of smirks on the noble's handsome face and his field was relaxed, showing his amusement.

“Well, fine. Atrocities, hmph. So whaddaya think, Sweets? Shimmer work for ya?” Jazz grinned.

“I-I suppose, yes. I think I could get used to that. I know it's not mine, but at least it's not something already in my memory, so maybe I won't get all confused? Or embarrassed, like when I get my memories sorted and I find I'd been calling myself by my sire's designation or something.” She blushed and looked down.

“Shimmer it is, then.”

“'Course, I'll still call ya Sweets, if that’s all right with ya.” Jazz flickered his visor at her playfully.

“And I think that's enough of you, Jazz. Are you ready to return to medibay, Shimmer, or did you want to stay here for a while longer?”

She looked around the table and smiled. “I’d like to stay a little longer.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh boy. Well, here we go. Imma get accused of writing a Mary Sue by the end of this fic, I swear it.

“Careful now. Looks like everything's integrated well, but we still need to calibrate your sensor suite. You can sit up, just don't move too fast.”

She was on her front, she found, with the new chest armour removed. She pushed up on stasis-weakened arms, still just a little too quickly, and the room spun. Her helm thunked back to the medberth and she groaned.

She'd _forgotten_ how it felt to have doorwings. She'd been without them for so long. So much sensation feeding through them, almost too much, truth be told. But it was good to be able to 'see' behind her again, even if she couldn't really make helm or aft out of the data right yet.

“If it's all the same to you, I think I'll just stay right where I am,” she muttered into the thin berth padding.

Ratchet gave a short chuckle. “Sensory overload, hm? We'll take care of that. Just let me do a rough calibration so you can sit up, then we'll get into the fine details.”

After several minutes of agonising pain all over, relief hit in the form of drastically reduced input from all of her sensors, but most especially her wings. Her whole frame relaxed, and it was only then that she realised how rigidly she'd been holding herself.

“Better? Good. Let's get you sitting up, then we can finish this.” Strong, gentle hands helped her slowly upright, and remained on her shoulders until the medic was satisfied that she wasn't going to be falling over as soon as he let go. “All right. Let's get started.”

Shimmer suffered his pokes in silence, only speaking to answer a direct question when asked. After her sensors were calibrated, there would be no reason for her to stay in medibay any longer. Where would she go? Would the Autobots let her stay in Iacon? She wasn't sure if she wanted to join the war effort or not.

On the one hand, she didn't like fighting, or the idea of mechs offlining as a result of her actions. The thought of killing other Cybertronians made her tank heave. Her sensor panels flicked anxiously, but if Ratchet noticed, he made no comment.

On the other hand, though, was Praxus. Or really, the fact that there was no Praxus any more. She'd not been a direct witness to the atrocities committed there, but her tormentor had liked to show her image captures and video during his play sessions. What was done there could never be excused, and most certainly not forgiven. Justice for her home city-state was something she wanted, but could she take up arms against other mecha?

She was so lost in her thoughts that she startled badly when she felt a touch to her shoulder. A little scream slipped from her vocaliser, and her frame was instinctively halfway curled up to protect her spark before she realised.

“Primus, Ratchet. Go scare her spark right into guttering, why don't you?” the medic muttered to himself. “Shimmer. Just me, scraplet. You're safe. No one's gonna hurt you here.”

_Okay. Okay, vent. In, hold, out. Now uncurl. Sit up and keep venting, it's just the medic. He's safe. Safety._ Her optics finally focussed on the medic's face, vaguely registering the worry there. “Sorry. I'm sorry. You scared me. 'M okay.” She kept mumbling apologies to Ratchet and reassurances to herself until she had herself back under control.

Ratchet watched her as she calmed, somewhat impressed with her control. There were certain Autobots who would tear your arm off for touching them without warning who hadn't gone through half of what this young femme had. But then they had combat training and reflexes, and she hadn't.

They also weren't nearly as sweet-tempered.

"Anyway, I'm almost done. I need you standing for the last of the calibrations, then Jazz has volunteered to show you to quarters and where all you can go around the base."

*

The room was nice, she had to admit. Not much to it; just a standard-issue bunk with little padding, a small shelving unit, a desk and terminal. It was far more than she'd expected.

It was also very empty. Even though it was about the size of her tiny efficiency apartment back in Praxus, it had too much open space for what she'd gotten used to in her captivity. There was a gap under the berth for storage that she seriously considered holing up in, and if she hadn't had her doorwings back, she'd have done just that.

As it was, she rearranged the desk and shelving unit so she had a nice cubby to retreat to if the space got overwhelming. There was a single thin mesh blanket folded neatly on the berth and she shook it out and draped it over herself. It muffled the sensor readings from her wings and she sighed in relief. 

She curled up on the berth and tried initiating a recharge cycle, but every time she did, something pulled her back out of it. Even after she moved to her cubby, where the space was much more confined and she felt she could relax more, she could get no recharge. Finally she decided to try to find the common room, just to see if any of the mechs she knew were off shift and willing to distract her.

Fortunately, it was easy enough to find. Unfortunately, while there were a few mecha present, she'd met none of them.

Her wings registered movement behind her as she stood indecisively outside the room. Then the familiar pull of Praxian coding made itself known and she turned with a little gasp and a wide smile.

Which faded somewhat when she realised that this Praxian wasn't the one she knew. "Oh. Hello." 

The new mech grinned brightly at her, doorwings waving a happy greeting. "Hi! I'm Bluestreak. You're Shimmer, right? Did you want to go in and sit down and talk or anything? You kinda look a little scared. I know you're new here and all, but you really don't have to be scared or anything. Most mechs are pretty friendly. Although you might want to steer clear of Gears. And Huffer. And Sunstreaker if he's in a _mood_. Then there's Cliffjumper. He's not really a bad mech, well, none of them are _really_ , but if he decides he doesn't like you, that's pretty much it. And there's several mechs he doesn't like on base here."

"Oh. Um, thank you? I was just looking to see if there was anyone I know in there."

He looked her over. "Can't recharge?"

She wilted. "Not really, no. I try, but I keep coming right back out."

"Yeah, I know how that is. It's rough. 'Sokay, though. I'll keep you company if you want. My shift doesn't start for another six hours. Want some energon?"

"That would be nice. And thank you."

"Great! Does Ratchet still have you on med-grade, or can you have regular energon?"

"Mostly med-grade, but I can have a little regular. Not a full ration yet, though."

"We could split a cube? I don't need that much since I'm just going to monitor duty and my levels are pretty good already." He ushered her into the room and over to a sofa. She sat, looking around curiously as she waited for Bluestreak to return.

There were fewer mechs present now than there had been when she'd peeked into the room. A pair of dark-coloured mecha sat at the other end of the common room from where Blue had steered her. They appeared to be engrossed in their conversation and were paying neither Shimmer nor Bluestreak any mind.

Another mech sat near the door, but his helm was down on the table in front of him and he looked to be in recharge. Blue returned before she could take in much detail and happily began chattering away even before he sat down.

The mech was adorable, she had to give him that much. Bright optics, expressive wings, open field... and a gorgeous smile. She knew it was at least partially due to coding, but she found herself wondering what it would be like to kiss him. To curl up next to him... or on him.

Before half the time was gone, she was snuggled right up in the young mech's side, his hands stroking her doorwings and hers tentatively exploring his frame. He pulled her easily onto his lap and tilted her head up, then caught her mouth in a gentle kiss.

Her optics shot wide, flickering. Then his tongue brushed against her lips and they parted with a little whimper, allowing him access, her optic shutters fluttering closed. She pushed him back into the sofa, taking control of the kiss, deepening it, her tongue thrusting into his mouth to tangle with his.

Her coding was ridiculously happy.

Interface systems primed and she whimpered at the jolt of sensation when her panel scraped over his. Bluestreak pulled back, breaking the kiss and venting heavily.

"Primus," he muttered. "Shimmer..."

She leant forward, intent on capturing his mouth once more, coding practically singing. When he pulled away again, she sat back in puzzlement. 

One hand came up to stroke her face. "It's not that I don't want you. I do; you just feel _right_. I'd just rather be able to take my time, do it right, not just a quick romp on the couch before shift."

Her face burned. Had she really just been about to take him here, in the common room, where anyone could just walk in and watch? Oh, Spires, there were probably cameras, too. She scrambled off Bluestreak's lap and stood babbling approximations of apologies for a moment, until the open space and his expression became too much and she fled, ducking around a startled Jazz in the doorway.

*

"Should I even ask, Blue?" Jazz took in the young Praxian's dazed look and the sprawling pose, deciding he might be better off not.

"I... I don't... Primus. Think I just got hammered by social coding. Shimmer, too. Never been that strong before, though."

"Social coding?" Jazz couldn't help the curiosity.

The grey mech pulled himself together finally and fidgeted at the question. "Yeah. I mean, all Praxians have it, even before... Well, it's just got more powerful since there aren't many of us left. It kinda pulls us to each other."

"Makes ya do things ya might not normally?"

"Sorta? Not exactly, though. I don't really know how to explain it."

"Try. I guarantee Red's gonna want ta know what's goin' on with ya, specially if this's gonna repeat, and you know he's listenin'."

Blue sighed. "I'm really not good at this. Okay, so social coding draws Praxians to each other. Frame language, EM fields, and wingspeak help the code determine if the other would be a good match. If they're not, it's a lot easier to ignore the pull. I mean, it's still there, but not as strong? If they are, or they might be, you might wind up doing something neither are ready for yet. Like interfacing on first meeting. I heard one story once where two mechs _bonded_ right there when they met! Never saw each other before or anything!

"But anyway. Some mechs are really good at ignoring the pull, even when it's strong. Like Prowl. Then you get mechs like me. Not so good." He looked down at his hands, then back up to Jazz. "I should probably stay away from her, huh?"

"Nah, mechlet. If she tells ya to stay away, then yeah. If not, go ahead, but try ta get to know her. She could use some friends." A mischievous glint appeared in the blue visor. "So that show Prowler and ya put on those vorns back...?"

"Jazz!!"


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, folks, here we go. It gets kinky this chapter, and probably most chapters after. New tags are added and the rating jumps again to Explicit this time.

Shimmer dropped onto her berth, cursing her coding and still running hot. Her processor was providing all sorts of oh so helpful ideas and images; Bluestreak’s darkened optics and flushed face, the little noises they both made as they kissed and touched each other, the feeling of her rubbing against him. Pale hands tentatively touched her plating, growing surer as she explored herself.

Many of her old hot spots had changed when Ratchet rebuilt her frame, she found. Not by much, but she did have to hunt for them. But that was okay; she needed to relearn her body and its responses, especially if interfacing was a possibility. And oh, did it ever seem to be.

She caressed and stroked every bit of her frame that she could comfortably reach, ignoring her open panel and pressurised spike, until her vents came in quick puffs and she teetered on the edge of overload. Immediately she stayed her touch, wavering on that precipice, and eventually the energy bled off.

She began again, not quite at the beginning, this time occasionally brushing her fingers over the rim of her valve or the tip of her spike as she explored. She pressed the very end of a single digit just barely into her opening and felt her valve clamp down hard. It felt so empty; hot and swollen and so very _wet_. She brought her finger up to her mouth and licked the fluid off, then suckled at the tip.

She had no toys to fill herself with, but her fingers would work well enough for now. One delved in up to the hand and she wriggled it around, feeling for the best spot to touch. A second soon joined the first inside her while her thumb rolled over her anterior node.

Her other hand busied itself with her spike, squeezing and stroking, swiping over the head and spreading the thin transfluid over the entire shaft. Tingles of energy shot through her spike as her charge rose again, strong and fast.

A tightness built behind her array and her valve felt even more swollen. Hotter. Wetter. Another finger was added to the ones wriggling and pumping inside her. Just a little more…

Her mind supplied the recent memory of kissing Bluestreak, the way his tongue slid against her own, the way he nipped her lip then soothed it with soft licks, the way he sucked on her tongue. Overload crested, slamming into her hard and she bucked into her hands, transfluid painting silvery stripes across her belly.

Shimmer lay there recovering, eventually gathering her wits enough to realise she had nothing to clean herself up with. She really didn’t want to use her blanket. She’d have nothing to muffle her doorwings with if she did. The wash racks weren’t all that far away, but she’d have to walk there through two very public corridors with drying transfluid on her plating. Anyone who saw her would know exactly what she’d been up to.

On the other hand, she really wasn’t interested in remaining a mess, and the sooner she washed, the easier it would come off.

Decision made, she poked her head out into the hall. This one was empty, so she scooted in the direction of the racks as quickly as she dared. The other hall was deserted as well and she vented a sigh of relief as she ducked through the door…

Only to find that two of the shower heads were occupied already, and the mechs under them were watching her closely. The red one had a knowing grin on his face. He didn’t say anything, but then, he really didn’t need to.

The yellow one wore a scowl. It softened a bit after a moment of them just standing there, but didn’t entirely go away. Shimmer ducked her helm in embarrassment and moved for the rack furthest from the large mechs.

The hot solvent felt good on her plating and she simply stood under the spray for a while. Her doorwings began to droop as a pleasant lethargy stole over her. She made sure all the fluids from her overload were washed away and shut off the rack.

Those mechs were still there. Well, not exactly where she’d left them; they were in the drying area now. The red one smiled at her again as she approached warily and took up position under a dryer vent.

“Hi! I’m Sideswipe. Haven’t seen you before, I don’t think. Just transfer in?”

Shimmer managed a small nervous twitch of her lips that could maybe be mistaken for a smile. “No. Well, I suppose you might say something like that, actually. Just not in the way you’re probably thinking. It’s… not really something I want to talk about.”

“You’re the one the ‘Cons had.” The golden mech spoke bluntly as he looked her over with a critical optic. She wondered if she measured up.

Probably not. Her optics dropped to stare at the ground and her plating locked down tight.

“Don’t mind Sunny. He doesn’t socialise much. I really think he could bring even Blue’s attitude crashing down sometimes. Ow!” Sideswipe rubbed at his shoulder.

“Don’t call me that.”

“You don’t have to hit me when I do. Now look, I have a scrape. Thanks so much, Sunshine.” He ducked the incoming swipe this time and laughed.

Sunshine, Sunny, whatever his actual designation was, just scowled more until he returned his attention to Shimmer.

“I didn’t mean to bring up bad memories.”

Sideswipe’s jaw hit the ground. “Who are you that you can get my brother to apologise so fast? I need to know your secrets.”

“Shut up, Sides.”

“I’m not really anyone. Just Shimmer right now.”

“Hmm. Well, like I said, I’m Sideswipe. My brother here’s Sunstreaker. We couldn’t help but notice why you came in–”

Sunstreaker groaned and covered his face with a hand. “Sides, no. No. Stop.”

“–and we just got off shift. We’ve got the next five shifts off and we were curious if you’d be up for some recreational fragging,” Sideswipe finished with a brilliant smile.

Sunstreaker grabbed the red one by the scruff of the neck and hauled back. “You’re a frelling idiot,” he growled. “You’re going to scare xyr off and xe’ll never speak to us again.”

Shimmer stood frozen, trying to make sense of the situation. Propositioned. Just like that. Was this a common thing here? Or was it just these mechs? They had the look of warbuilds; large and powerful. Rumour had it that warbuilds had a libido to match their size. If a mech that size wasn’t careful, they could mess her up pretty badly.

On the other hand, she was still sporting a decent charge, and the brothers, while certainly not Praxian, _were_ rather attractive. As long as they could rein themselves in, she didn’t see a downside to the offer. Just some fun, no strings attached.

“Nothing rough,” she qualified. “I have some welds that are still tender, and I don’t want to make Ratchet angry with me.”

Two black helms quickly shook their agreement. “No making the medic mad,” Sideswipe said. “That’s a very good idea.”

“We get enough of his wrath just by existing,” Sunstreaker muttered. He took a step closer, getting into her personal space and letting his field wash over her. “You’re sure you want to interface?”

He was revved, very much ready to go. Shimmer didn’t know how he could possibly keep himself covered at that level of arousal. Her own frame responded swiftly, and when golden fingers traced her jawline she shuddered, a little moan escaping before her emphatic “Yes!”

“You want it here or in quarters? We’re good with either, but the ‘racks don’t lock. Probably no-one will come in, because everyone knows Sunny’s in here and a lot of mecha have issues with him, but still… Don’t know how much of an exhibitionist you are.”

“Mm… Not. Quarters is good.” She purred as Sunstreaker pulled her into a kiss, his tongue flicking out to run over her lower lip. She pulled it into her mouth, suckling lightly as she watched his optics flare. His hands gripped her upper arms tightly and his engine gave a hard rev.

“Slag. No more of that until we’re in private.” Sideswipe’s vocals had gone husky, scratchy with static.

Shimmer was led to a room not far down the corridor. Sunstreaker captured the femme in another blazing kiss in the time it took for Sideswipe to palm the door open.

“Alright, you two. Get under cover before Spazz has a fit.” Sideswipe herded them into the room, secured the door, then pounced. “My turn for kisses.”

Sunstreaker reluctantly gave up his hold on Shimmer, though the kiss lingered even as his brother was pulling the femme away. She went willingly, hands exploring the red frame even as her mouth was thoroughly plundered.

Fingers danced lightly over the sensor-rich backs of her doorwings and she twitched them away. “Not so light,” she gasped out between kisses. “Firmer.” The touch returned, stroking over the edges of the panel, pressure just enough to weaken her knees. “Yes. Like that. Mmm, just like that.”

Sunstreaker pressed up against her from behind, between her wings, his spike extended and rubbing on her lower back and aft. “You want both of us at once or separately? Sides likes being spiked, I prefer doing the spiking.”

“Probably should take this to the berth, bro. And I don’t actually have a preference; it’s all good to me.”

Shimmer revved her engine. “Doesn’t matter to me. Want.” Her cover popped open and her spike pressurised into Sideswipe’s waiting hand. The squeeze-stroke combo he unleashed on her almost had her undone right there.

“Think you’re right. Berth is good.” The golden warrior picked her up, her back still against his chest, and altered his grip until he held her by the thighs, legs spread wide. She hung over his spike, her own on lewd display, as he walked with deliberately heavy tread to the berth, which caused his shaft to bump up into her valve rim.

Sideswipe sat on the edge of the platform, optics locked on the femme’s bouncing spike. He signalled his brother to stop just as he reached the berth, Shimmer’s spike at the perfect height for him to play with. Sunstreaker huffed in minor irritation at being put on hold, but obliged.

The red mech placed a kiss right on the tip of the spike in front of him and glanced up. Shimmer’s helm was on his brother’s shoulder, so he couldn’t see her expression, but by the sounds she made and the way her billows heaved, he was relatively certain that she was enjoying herself. He continued his game of teasing the femme into an incoherent mess with his mouth.

It didn’t take long at all before she was tensing with the first waves of overload, but Sideswipe pulled away fully before she could reach completion, leaving her squirming in Sunstreaker’s arms. Once her charge lowered again, Sideswipe simultaneously pressed two fingers into her valve and took her spike deep, working his tongue over the surface and scissoring his fingers within her.

His other hand sought out Sunstreaker’s spike and gave it a few good strokes. Shimmer’s cries gained in volume the closer she got to overload, and Sunny bucked into his brother’s hand. Sideswipe angled the black and gold spike, ready to slide it into the valve he was working.

“Ready?” he asked of both, even though he could feel how much more than ready Sunstreaker was.

“Yes, yes yes yes, _please_.” The femme’s field was a knot of desire, need raging through her. She squirmed, aft tilting into Sunstreaker’s hips as she tried to roll her own.

Sideswipe pulled his fingers from her valve with a sucking sound and pressed his brother’s spike to the opening. Shimmer froze, her frame locked up as Sunstreaker slowly pulled her down his shaft. The red frontliner took her into his mouth again even as he flicked a finger over her anterior node.

The surge of sensation had Shimmer moving again, writhing on the spike in her and bucking into the hot mouth on her own spike.

Sunstreaker gave a warning over the twin bond that he couldn’t stay upright much longer. Sideswipe released Shimmer’s spike and clambered backward on the berth, arranging himself for when his brother and their lover collapsed on him. If he and Sunny coordinated properly, he might get the femme’s spike in him on the first go.

Shimmer whined at the loss. But Sunstreaker was purring into her audial, telling her to lock her arms out in front of her, and then they were falling. Not far, and it was clearly a very controlled fall. Sideswipe’s hips came up to meet hers and her spike slid home into a hot, ridiculously slick valve and she was lost. Overload crested and she could only ride out the sensations, a passenger in her own frame.

Sideswipe moaned as he felt liquid heat flood his valve. He clenched and rolled the callipers around the spike in him, revelling in each pulse. Sunstreaker panted through Shimmer’s overload with its tight, rhythmic squeezes and snaps of electricity between their frames.

Before she had completely recovered, Sunstreaker was moving in her, his spike dragging over sensitised nodes in the mesh of her valve. Her charge skyrocketed again, and while she tried to follow the rhythm of his thrusts to move in Sideswipe, her limbs seemed to have declared mutiny and refused to cooperate.

The red mech gave no indication that he wasn’t enjoying himself, though. Rather the opposite, actually. His own charge was rising just as fast as his brother’s and Shimmer could feel his spike twitching where it was trapped between their frames. Static skittered through his valve and into her spike as it clenched down on her.

One more thrust from Sunstreaker tossed her over the edge again and she screamed out her pleasure into Sideswipe’s throat cabling. The golden mech kept moving, chasing his overload in her valve, his fans screaming.

Sideswipe tipped over first, his valve rippling tightly around Shimmer’s spike, his own jerking between their frames and painting the femme with his fluids. Sunstreaker slowed the pace, deliberately holding off his overload and pulling yet another from Shimmer.

There was a distinct pressure at the entrance to her valve every time Sunstreaker pressed in, as though something else was trying to push its way inside her. “You ever taken a knot, darling?” Sideswipe asked, vocaliser crackling.

A what? “N-no-Oh! Is that what that is?”

“Oh yeah. Your choice whether you want it, but I’ll tell you, it feels amazing. And Sunny _loves_ knotting his partners.”

“Feels so good,” Sunstreaker grunted. “Wanna– uh! Oh, wanna feel your valve tied to me. Gonna fill you up so full, you’ll leak my fluids for _hours_.”

“So what do you say; you good with him tying you? It’s okay to say no.”

“Yes! Please yes!”

The pressure on her valve increased as Sunstreaker slammed into her, optics flaring white with his charge. Her rim stretched wide with a bit of a burning sensation as the knot was slowly forced in. Sideswipe moaned long and low, like he was the one who was spiking her, his shaft twitching against her belly and drooling fluids all over.

Just when Shimmer thought she couldn’t take any more of the stretch, it was abruptly past and Sunstreaker was fully seated in her, filling her utterly. The tip of his spike rested just under her ceiling node at the gate to her gestation chamber. He shivered and mouthed a line of sloppy kisses along the side of her helm and neck.

“You feel so good… Feel that, Sides? Primus, you gotta. Oh, you gotta feel this. You gotta get inside xyr.”

“Hnnh… Probably not a great idea, bro. Especially not if you’re going to go off in xyr. You know I can’t stop I get that deep. The coding takes over. Ratch would kill us. _Prowl_ would probably kill us worse.”

Shimmer gave a slight wiggle and attempted to clench down on the knot locked inside her. “Talk later,” she gasped. “Overload _**now**_.”

Both brothers laughed. “As you will,” Sunstreaker replied. “Sides? Wanna help?”

“Absolutely. You okay with sucking my spike, sweetspark? Sunny can’t move at all in you; you guys are tied tight. Never felt him tie like this before. But if you want to suck me off, he’ll get all those feelings and the backlash of my overload through the bond, and he’ll go off so hard and fast, you won’t have time to brace for it. You’ll get off at least once more, too. Guaranteed.”

Before he was even finished speaking, she was shaking her helm. Memories of various sessions with her Decepticon handler made her plating crawl. “N-no. Please, please no… I can’t…”

“Shh, shh, hey, it’s okay.” The genuinely concerned expression on his face immediately began calming her. “Not gonna make you. I can jerk it, or I can spike Sunny. You don’t have to do anything you’re not comfortable with, darling. You wanna stop? Sunny can’t pull out until his knot goes down, but we can stop everything else if you want.” He caressed her cheek, touch surprisingly gentle for a warbuild, and she leaned into it.

After a moment of stillness, she realised they were actually waiting for a response. “I’m okay. This is okay. I… I want to continue, if you both want.”

Sunstreaker shifted and Shimmer moved with him. “Just going to get comfortable,” he murmured in her audial. “Sides is gonna give us a show.”

“Little too late to spike Sunny; too close.” At the confused look the femme gave him, he sighed and explained. “Alright, full disclosure. We’re… not normal mechs. You might know us as Gestarth.”

“Gestarth? Um, no. I’ve never heard of them before, actually. You’re… not going to eat me or anything, right?”

“We’re not sparkeaters. And the only thing I plan on eating is the utter mess that’s gonna be in your valve when Sunny’s done with you. Mm, looking forward to that.” Sideswipe gave a full-body shiver and licked his lips, locking lust-dark optics with the femme.

Shimmer gasped, bolts of electricity shooting straight through her neural net, setting her entire frame to tingling. Sunstreaker shifted them again, leaning his back against the wall. He took Shimmer’s spike in hand and stroked the fluid-soaked shaft eagerly.

“It won’t take much to send you over again, will it? You’re already almost there. I could get Sides to suck you off, get you off real quick. See how he’s touching himself? He wants to fill you up so bad.”

“Not gonna happen, bro. You know that.” Sideswipe grunted, hands moving deftly over his array.

“Doesn’t change the fact that you want to. You want me to finish off, then you could take over. Frag xyr and fill xyr chamber so full the plating buckles.”

The red mech was agitated now, and let it show, dropping his hands from himself and giving the femme her first good look at his spike. “Primus, Sunshine, shut the frag up. Just shut up! I’m not going to do that to xyr; xe doesn’t know what xe’d be agreeing to.”

“Then explain it,” Shimmer broke in before anything could escalate. “I prefer my chosen partners to be completely satisfied, and as long as that doesn’t include my sucking spike, I’m good with just about anything.”

Sideswipe stared for a moment. “Are you sure?” he asked warily. “I don’t want to scare you off.”

She nodded. “You’ve got me curious now, and if you actually are capable of filling me that full, I want it. Besides, you said full disclosure.”

“Kinky,” Sunstreaker commented with a nip to the cables in her neck. “I like that.”

Sideswipe’s mouth opened and closed a few times. “It’s… not what you’re probably thinking. I don’t even produce actual transfluid. Sunny’s the one who’ll knot you and fill you up with that. I… If I fragged you right after Sunny’s done with you, with all the transfluid you pumped into me… Well, how do you feel about sparklings? Cuz that’s what we’d end up with. A full clutch of hatchlings.”

She looked at him sceptically. “You’re not making much sense. I’ve got a ground; Ratchet made sure to let me know. So no sparklings and no worries.” This had turned serious fast.

“We don’t… _exactly_ work that way.” He still looked worried, afraid that she was going to take his words badly. “Sunny finishes with you, you’re full of his transfluid and primed for me. You already fragged me; I’m full of your transfluid and the eggs my frame produces. I frag you, those eggs _will_ wind up inside you. And because they’ve mixed with both yours and Sunny’s fluids at that point, they’re fully fertilised, so sparklings are an inevitable fact of life, ground or no ground.”

She was silent for a long moment, trying to wrap her mind around the mech’s words. One in particular she kept getting caught on, and it piqued her interest. “Eggs?”

“Primusfraggitall, Sunny, didn’t I tell you xe wouldn’t take it well?”

“All things considered, xe could be taking it much worse. Xe’s still revved. Maybe even more than before.”

“She,” she said absently, still circling the idea of the red mech stuffing her full… “I prefer ‘she’. And what exactly do you mean by ‘eggs’?”

Sunstreaker took over the explanation. “He means _eggs_ , about the size of your fist, that he’ll stuff inside your gestation chamber. The lube his systems create will relax you enough that it won’t hurt at all, and at first it’ll feel just like a _really_ good frag. Then the eggs start moving,” and he poked her lightly at a spot on her lower abdomen and traced a path to the base of her spike. “It’ll feel a lot like my knot, but it moves deeper inside you,” his finger slowly travelled the length of her shaft, “until it stretches your gate wide and drops right in.” His finger ended its journey with a little flick off the head, taking a bead of transfluid with it.

Shimmer’s engine gave an involuntary rev when Sunstreaker held that finger up to his brother, and her optics shuttered against the erotic sight of Sideswipe suckling the golden digit just as he would a spike. Primus, these… these Gestarth would be the death of her. What Sunstreaker was describing, with his words and gestures, was setting her circuits ablaze.

Sideswipe’s mouth closed over her spike once more. Her vents stalled and she tried without success to move on the spike in her. Sunstreaker spoke again, voice rumbling in her audial as he took her through the process once, twice more, each time bringing her closer to overload.

Sideswipe stroked himself, fingers occasionally dipping down to flirt with his valve and anterior node. Shimmer gasped when he hollowed his cheeks around her and she grasped the sensor horns on his helm. The twins both moaned as she gentled her grip and began running her fingers in random patterns over the surface of the protrusions. Ventilations grew ragged and both mechs stiffened with the coming overload.

Sunstreaker twitched, his fingers closing tightly on Shimmer’s hips. He pulled her to him with a grunt, then he was pumping thick, hot transfluid into her. Warmth bloomed in her lower belly as she was filled and as promised, she fell headlong into another overload that seemed to last forever.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Damn, Wednesday seems to roll around so fast! More tags added this chapter and more kinkiness.

She was lying on her back on a padded circuit slab, bracketed on either side by aroused yet anxious EM fields. It was dark, and she wondered why they’d turned out the lights. She was just getting ready to ask when a voice rumbled next to her.

“You okay? That was pretty intense.”

She had to do a hard reboot on her vocaliser before she could get anything resembling speech out. “Think so. Wow. Why’s it dark in here?”

Two pleasant, deep laughs rolled through the room. “Try powering up your optics.”

“Oh. Hi. There you are.” She smiled lazily at the two faces looking down at her. “How long was I out?”

“Not long. Maybe a minute or two.”

“You’re still revved,” she said to the red frontliner.

“Yeah, but I’ll be fine. Sunny’s relaxed something good. Been a while since we’ve had a third.”

She shifted a little to face him better. There was a distinct feeling of fullness in her gestation chamber, but it wasn’t quite enough. She looked Sideswipe over, noting his slightly stressed expression and the unusual design of his straining spike. “So, about those eggs you mentioned…”

“You can’t be serious. You’ll carry them for months before they’re ready to be laid. They’ll get bigger, and your plating will buckle. Everyone will know you’re carrying.”

“I’m not hearing much to discourage this. I said I want to be filled, and while I’m pretty full right now, I want more if you can give it to me.”

“And the clutch? I don’t have more than five at a time, and it’s usually not even that many, but are you okay with at least incubating them until they’re ready?”

“Yes. Yes, Sideswipe. Please.”

He let out a relieved sigh. “Are you okay with staying on your back?”

“For a while longer. You’ve got some good padding here.”

“Okay. Alright. I’m gonna clean you up a bit first, cuz you’ve got a mess there between your legs and I really want to taste you and Sunny together. Tell me if you start getting uncomfortable and we’ll switch up the positions.”

A breathy moan answered him as he settled between her legs. Fingers gently spread the swollen folds of her valve and a tongue traced patterns through the fluids leaking out. Sunstreaker’s hand slowly wandered her front, tracing naughty glyphs on her plating, and he whispered all kinds of dirty things in her audial.

“Mm, you taste good, darling. Very nice. And so responsive! Primus, you’re gonna feel so good.” Sideswipe kissed his way up Shimmer’s frame until he was face to face with her. His expression turned serious again, and he said, “Okay, last time to back out. You’re absolutely sure about this. Cuz once I start, I _can’t_ stop. Those eggs are coming out one way or another, and if my ‘spike’ is anywhere close to your valve, they’re going in you.”

She pursed her lips and gave him a flat look, then pulled his hips down to meet hers. His spike rubbed at her entrance and she murmured directly into his audial, “Fill me up. I want to feel you in me. I want to feel your eggs stretch me out as they move from you to me. I want this.”

Sideswipe groaned and pushed into the slick, loose valve presented to him. Shimmer was completely relaxed and eager, if her field was anything to go by. She seemed to be looking forward to this as much as the red mech was.

He could feel his spike shifting configuration as he rocked into her valve, lengthening and swelling to completely fill the space it occupied. The first touch of his ovipositor to her gate prompted a rush of fluid to open it, then another to dilate it so the first two inches of the tip could slip inside. He felt Sunstreaker’s transfluid on himself as his head flared out, locking him inside the femme.

He could feel the first egg moving into position at his base. Primus, it already felt so good. It had been far too long since he’d laid into a willing, fertile nest. Sure, he’d laid in Sunny, but the eggs were never fully fertilised and his brother’s frame absorbed them within a few hours. There was never any time to dote on the ‘carrier’. Once he laid his clutch, he’d pass out for a few hours as his ovipositor reconfigured to mostly look like a normal spike and his systems recovered from the strain of laying. By the time he woke up, the eggs would be gone and his coding would react accordingly; he’d be mopey for a day or two after.

But this time, the eggs were, or would be, properly fertilised and he’d get to dote on Shimmer until they were ready to hatch. Of course, they’d be half Gestarth, half Praxian, so maybe they’d hatch and have those adorable wings…

He let out a loud groan; the first egg was moving up his ovipositor as he felt the second settle into place and begin its journey. Shimmer was moaning and squirming on him and screaming out, “Yes! Oh, yes! Oh stars, it feels so good. Spires, Sides, don’t stop!” As if he could. Coding had taken over and those eggs were on their way out.

The first tipped over into her full gestation chamber and he felt a backrush of Sunny’s transfluid into his ovipositor. He shuddered with the sensation; it wasn’t one he’d ever felt before, since it was usually Sunny and another mech spiking him, then he laid in the other mech’s empty chamber. It felt exquisite. His brother gasped at the intensity of the feeling and agreed with him that they’d have to do it this way again, probably every time after this one.

The second egg was halfway up and the third was beginning to move. The fourth was backed up behind it, and he could feel a fifth moving down into position. A full clutch, then. Primus, Ratchet was going to be pissed. Not like the medic could say anything, though. Shimmer had been informed and enthusiastically agreed. Prowl might be the one to watch out for, though, since he was Praxian and Praxians usually stuck together.

And then the second egg tipped over with another backrush of fluid, then the third. The fourth and fifth came out so close together there was no time for the fluid to rush in between them, but after the fifth was a huge rush before his ovipositor’s walls closed back up after laying. He could feel it in his own chamber, and the feeling pushed him into overload. Lubricants gushed from his valve and his ovipositor let out a burst of fluids right into Shimmer’s chamber. The last thing he saw before the blackness claimed him was the absolutely euphoric look on the femme’s face as her valve milked him for all it was worth.

*

“Are you okay?” The question roused her from her post-overload haze. Sunstreaker looked down at her, a tiny crease between his brow ridges.

After taking stock of herself, she answered, “Yeah. Yeah, I think so. He’s kinda heavy, though.”

The crease disappeared and his lips quirked upward. “He is, isn’t he? You’ll have to bear it for about half an hour, though, because he’s still locked into you and I won’t be able to pull him off you until then. Do you need fuel?”

“I’m not going to turn it down, though I can’t sit up to drink it. And I think I’ll be okay for that long, but it’s not going to be comfortable. My wings are already starting to ache.”

“You’ve been on your back too long, and then with the eggs and him laying on you… yeah, I can see how it would start to hurt.” The golden mech turned to the stack of energon cubes they had hoarded in their quarters and mixed something into one. He brought it back to her along with a straw so she could drink lying down. “Don’t worry. It’s just a mild painkiller. Won’t hurt the eggs, and it should help with the ache in your wings. Probably in your valve, too. We stretched you pretty good.”

“Mm, thanks.” She took a drink and soon had the cube emptied. “Is it alright if I take a bit of a nap?”

“Go right ahead. Dumbaft there won’t wake up for another few hours, and once he’s free, I’ll move you both to more comfortable positions. You recharge on your side, right?”

“Yeah, my left side, usually. You’ve interfaced with Praxians before, huh?”

“Bluestreak, yeah. He sleeps on his right side, facing the door. Can’t blame him after everything he’s been through, though. Anyway, I’ll pull Genius out of you as soon as I can and clean you both up. When he wakes up, he’ll be a bit groggy and go through about five energon cubes and three of coolant, and then he’ll focus on you. Because you’re his Incubator, anything you want, he’ll do his best to provide it. And that includes fragging another mech.”

“And his duty shifts?”

Sunstreaker snorted. “Well, first off, we’ve got the next five off, if you recall. But if you tell Ratchet who put those eggs in you, he’ll immediately take Sides off full duty and put him to work around the base. If you don’t, it’s going to become painfully obvious within a week, and he’ll still be taken off full duty. And he’ll be like this until you lay and the eggs hatch.”

“Mmkay. I need to go see Ratchet anyway so he can check on my welds.” Her words were a bit slurred with need for recharge.

Sunstreaker snorted again. “Go to sleep. If you wake up before my brother, go ahead and go see Ratchet, otherwise, he’ll likely tag along, and that’s not a thing you want getting around base this soon. There are other Gestarth here, so if you want to try to keep it quiet who you were with, it’ll be easy enough. We don’t generally share who our partners are unless it’s okay with them. And I can try to mitigate some of Sides’ coding so it’s not so obvious.”

“How you gonna do that?” she asked sleepily.

“I’ll just have him lay his next clutch in me. He’ll have another egg ready by tomorrow, and since it won’t be fertilised properly, I’ll just absorb it and his coding will focus on me.”

“That fast?”

“Oh yeah. He generally spikes me more than I do him. Honestly, I’m surprised he only had five to put in you. Sure, he said he doesn’t have more than five, and that’s usually true, but I’ve felt him put two full clutches worth in me once or twice. Now, he could _theoretically_ put another clutch in you while this one is still growing.” Something dawned on him and he cursed. “Would you mind another egg? He’s got my fluid and yours in him now and the damn thing _will_ be fertilised. After that, though, he should have all the transfluid absorbed and he can lay any other eggs in me.”

“Okay. Felt so good…” She trailed off as her body shut down into recharge.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Man, am I bad at updating on time. Apologies.

She woke slowly, processor booting each sector individually. It felt nice, and when she regained control of motor functions, she moved into a cable-creaking stretch. She kept her optics closed, just enjoying the moment and rubbed a hand over her midsection. It was slightly bulged with the eggs inside and she wondered absently how it would look when she sat or stood up.

“Oh, good. You’re up before Sides. Here, have some energon, then go see Ratchet.” Sunstreaker handed her another cube as she sat up and she drank it down quickly.

“Are you kicking me out?” she asked with a little grin.

“Sort of. He’s gonna wake up soon and if you’re not here when he does, it’ll be easier for everyone. You’re welcome back whenever you want, though.” He pinged a code to her. “For our door. If you ever want to use it.”

Her optics widened slightly at the show of trust from this mech she’d just met. And then fragged. “Is it okay if I come back after I see Ratchet? I like the company and my quarters are too big for me by myself.”

“I did say whenever you want. I know Sideswipe would be glad to see you.”

She stood and headed for the door, then turned back and kissed Sunstreaker full on the lips. “You bet I’ll be back. That was amazing, and I’m looking forward to a repeat performance.” The smile that flitted over his face was well worth the words and she smiled back at him. She returned to the door and looked back toward Sideswipe sprawled over a good portion of the berth and giggled, then slid the door open and headed toward the medibay.

*

“Ratchet? What exactly are Gestarth?”

The medic dropped the instrument he was cleaning onto the counter with a clatter and turned to face her. “Okay, who’ve you been with?” He looked her up and down critically, optics focussing in on her ever so slightly bulged midsection. “Primus, tell me you agreed at the very least.”

“Yes, I agreed. Felt sooooo good, too.” She grinned. “So, there _are_ other Gestarth around here? And you didn’t answer my question.”

“I really don’t need to know about your sex life or your kinks. They did inform you about what carrying entails, right?”

“Yes, Ratchet,” she said dutifully. “Are you going to answer my questions?”

He shot a _look_ at her. “Yes, there are other Gestarth around here. Most have paired off, but there are some singles around. And Gestarth are an offshoot of the Cybertronian species. W– _They_ blend in very well, although they do have other forms that don’t look quite the same. They don’t reproduce the same way, either, as you’ve found out. How many eggs did he lay in you?”

“Five. Though I think I’m going to wind up with one more. And we? You’re a Gestarth, too?”

Ratchet heaved a sigh. “Yes, I’m Gestarth. Yes, I have a partner. We’re not looking for a third at this time. Neither one of us has the time to devote to a third and a clutch. I can’t tell you who else is, though. Patient confidentiality, you know.”

“I know two of them, and I think I can guess at another.” Her lips stretched into a Cheshire grin.

“You know, I really didn’t think you’d be this much of a pain when you were brought in. The way you acted when Prowl took you out for a walk, you were all quiet and shy and demure. And now you’re fragging mechs you just met, and Gestarth no less! I swear, those eggs better not strain any of those welds.”

She set herself and flared her doorwings. Golden optics flashed fire. “First off, I’d just had a traumatic experience at the hands of the Decepticons. I had my wings ripped off and was kept in a tiny box until my handler wanted me, then he’d shove his spike down my throat. Never touched my valve or spike, though I don’t know why. Went into heat once, and he kept me tied to a circuit slab so I couldn’t touch myself and wouldn’t let anyone else touch me either. Not like I wanted them to, but the heat coding wanted it, but he just kept me in that prolonged state. Finally, _finally_ it ended. But not before he’d peeled away most of my plating to keep me from overheating. Then the lashes while he let another mech shove his spike down my throat. I was kept fed on transfluid and only the tiniest amount of energon, mostly sucked from other mechs’ wounds or whatever body part that was thrown into my box.”

She shuddered. “Then I find myself in an Autobot medibay with a good-looking medic and Praxians. Praxians! I thought I was the last! And then I met Jazz and Mirage and Bumblebee and _**Optimus** fragging **Prime**_ himself! Didn’t even know him at the time. Sentinel was Prime when I was taken. I bet you’d be quiet and demure too if you’d gone through half the things I have and found yourself in an unfamiliar situation.” She stopped herself when she realised she was ranting, gesticulating wildly. Then she levelled a finger at the medic. “And you know fragging well they’re not going to bother those welds. By the time they’re ready to come out, the things’ll be long healed. Besides, only one weld is even close to there, and it’s almost healed already.”

Ratchet looked taken aback, but only for a second. He grinned. “You’ve got a mouth on you. Good. Means you can stand up for yourself and I can stop worrying about you. Now, who were you with?”

“Aww, you were worried about me?” She laughed. “Nope, not getting it out of me that easily. I’ll let you do checkups on the eggs whenever you need to, but I’m not just going to _give_ their progenitors’ names to you. You’ll have to do better than that!”

“And if I told you that I need to know who you were with for medical reasons? Because I do. There is a pair here that’s not… stable. Their eggs do well at first, then lose their spark and die, causing problems for the carrier. I’m not going to tell anyone else, not even my own partner, so don’t worry about it leaving this room.”

She bit her lip and blew out a sigh from her vents. “Fine. I hope that pair you were talking about isn’t Sunstreaker and Sideswipe, because I’ve had enough _problems_ to last me a lifetime.”

“Oh Primus, you fragged the twins. The Well take us all, you couldn’t have picked a more terrifying duo to play with.”

“Terrifying? I’ll give you a bit intimidating at first, but they’re really nice.”

“Nah, they don’t intimidate me, but on the battlefield, they’re completely different mechs. Sideswipe is, anyway. Sunstreaker’s pretty standoffish and quick-tempered anyway. They’re frontliners, you know, and they really enjoy their job. They’re also really good at it.”

“I’ll believe that, but they were both really wonderful to me. Oh. Sunny said you’d have to take Sideswipe off full duty because of this.” She gestured to her belly.

“Which is another reason you couldn’t have picked a worse pair to play with. They’re very effective on their own, but as a team, they’re almost unstoppable. I have to take Sideswipe out of the field because he’d be too focussed on you and the clutch to be effective, and he’d only throw Sunny off.”

“So he really will be tagging along behind me like a lost turbo-pup?”

“No, he’ll be right beside you in protective mode, attempting to ward off anyone he sees as a threat. He’ll acquiesce to anything you want, though, even if it means fragging another pair of Gestarth and bearing their clutch. He’ll sleep with you, taste everything before you consume it, ‘face you whenever you want it, lay dormant clutches in you to help the eggs along, if that’s what you want.”

Her optics unfocussed and a smile played on her lips.

“Oh for the love of… You stop that fantasising right now.” He moved over to her and started to manoeuvre her over to a diagnostic slab. “Let’s just see how those eggs are right now, then you can go.”

*

“Hey, hey, Prowl! Been a while since I’ve seen you!” Blue doorwings waggled a jaunty greeting that matched the smile on the mech’s face.

Prowl barely twitched. “No,” he stated, expression flat.

“What? I barely said anything, you can’t just tell me no. You don’t even know what I was going to say next.”

The black and white steeled himself and very delicately and deliberately set the datapad he’d been working on down. “Smokescreen, I am very good at predicting the outcome of nearly any situation I find myself in, and you are very predictable. I _can_ just tell you no, because you know perfectly well what I’m saying no to.”

“Then explain to me why you’re saying no.”

“Your shenanigans when you met Bluestreak ring any bells? I’m not putting her through that. End of discussion.”

“No, it’s not. You know I’m going to run into her eventually. Do you really want it to be on our own in the hallway? Or would you prefer to be there to mitigate any potential ‘shenanigans’?” Smokescreen said with an arch look.

Prowl knew he’d lost. There was no way that he was going to let Shimmer meet the gambler without him present and he knew it. And Smokescreen knew he knew it. He almost swore.

“Fine. But it’s on my terms. I’ll reserve one of the sparring rooms for later today. I’ll comm you to let you know which one and what time we will be there. You will be there at least five minutes early, _inside_ the room, and you will not speak to her until after I’ve introduced you, and you will not touch her without her express permission. If you fail to follow the rules as laid out, I will hound you for the rest of your miserable life. Do I make myself clear?”

“Crystal, sir. Thank you.”

Not five minutes after the other Praxian had left, his comm went off. **::Prowl,::** Ratchet said, **::there’s a situation with Shimmer you might need to know about…::**

This time he did swear.


	7. Chapter 7

She punched the code into the keypad at what she was sure was the twins’ quarters. It had already been rejected twice, and as it was rejected a third time, a mech came with the tone.

“Hey there, I’m Hound. You lost?” he said with a gentle smile after looking her over.

“Ah, yes, apparently I am. Um, I’m sorry to bother you, but if you could point me in the direction of Sideswipe’s door, I’d appreciate it.” She gave a lopsided grin and her doorwings lowered contritely.

“The twins, huh? They’re right next door, there. So you weren’t terribly lost.” And he grinned back at her.

This was definitely a mech she could feel comfortable around. He had a disarming air about him, and a manner that said she’d probably like to get to know him better.

“Thank you, Hound. Really,” she said.

“Not a problem. If you ever want to chat, ping my comm.” And he pinged her his comm frequency.

She smiled. “Thanks again.”

She moved over to the next door and punched in the code. Two heads swivelled in her direction when the door opened and she was abruptly engulfed in red frontliner.

“There you are. Sunny said you’d gone to see Ratchet and I was beginning to worry.”

Sunstreaker gave her an ‘I told you so’ look.

She laughed lightly and related what had happened; everything that Ratchet had said about the eggs, and her meeting with Hound on her way back.

“Hound’s good people,” Sunstreaker said.

“I figured. He just has that feeling about him, you know?”

“No, but we’ve known him a lot longer than you and seen him in action. Even on the battlefield he’s good people. Can’t say that about everyone on base. Sides, can you let her go now?”

“No. But she can sit on me if you want to talk. Or,” and his voice dropped into sultry tones as he spoke directly into her audial, “you could sit on my ovipositor again. I’m ready if you are.”

She looked at him wide-eyed. “Already?”

“Turns out he had another clutch ready to be fertilised and didn’t realise it until he woke up, the idiot. He’s ready to lay them, but you can always tell him no.”

“But… I told Ratchet I’d wind up with one more, not _five_! It’s not that I’m unwilling, but that’s – I’ll pop! Stop laughing.”

“I wasn’t laughing.” Sunstreaker schooled his face back to his normal scowl.

“Maybe not out loud,” she grumbled.

“Look, it doesn’t feel like a full clutch. Maybe two or three. That’s within tolerance, right? It’s getting really hard to hold my panel closed now, and if I open it… well, they’re ready to come out.”

Yellow plating filled her vision as Sunstreaker leaned over to put his face directly into his brother’s. “You are _not_ going to pressure her into doing anything she doesn’t want to. No matter how much it hurts you,” he growled out.

“No, Sunstreaker, it’s okay. Really. I just wasn’t expecting another session today.”

“It’s okay?” Sideswipe cut in quickly before the golden mech could speak again.

“Ye-hess,” she giggled as she was swept up and over to the berth.

“All right. Lemme get you revved. I can do this without, but it’s so much better if we’re both enjoying ourselves, right?” He deposited her on her back and dropped to his knees, slinging her legs over his shoulders and nuzzling her panel all in one movement. His tongue traced the seams and dipped into the inside joints of her hips. His hands ran up and down her legs, first on the outside, then over the top to graze the inside. _//Little help, Bro?//_

Sunstreaker sighed and moved to kiss their lover senseless. It didn’t take as long as he thought it might.

He knew Sides was good with his mouth. He _knew_ this. And it never ceased to amaze him exactly how quickly the mech could get anyone revved up, even if Sunstreaker was putting his own considerable talent at kissing to use. But soon enough Shimmer was panting between kisses and he knew through his brother that she was open and slick with lubricant.

“You good, Shimmer?” Sideswipe asked, licking his lips.

A whimper and a shuddery “Please” were all he got.

“All right, lover. I want you up on your hands and knees this time. I don’t want to stress those doorwings too much, and it’ll be more comfortable for you with the eggs already in you. Is that okay?”

“Yes, _please_ ,” she moaned and started moving herself into position.

“I need you here at the edge, babe.” She obliged and lowered her chest to the berth. At his angle still on his knees by the berth, he could see the biolights inside her valve. He felt Sunstreaker’s arousal jump; knowing she was still stretched out enough to be able to see inside was a huge kink of his. “That’s perfect.” He stood and ran his hand over her aft. “Gotta do this quick, love.”

She wiggled her aft at him. “Then do it. You keep talking,” she complained with a sultry smile in her voice.

He put his hand at the upper rim of her valve and lined up to take her. “Hold still,” he warned, then let his cover open. His ovipositor pressurised immediately and his hand at her valve turned it to the proper angle for penetration. He could already feel the egg at its base, even as he twitched and let out a jet of fluid to dilate her gate. He pressed close and felt her open to him. His ovipositor pushed inside and anchored itself, and the egg began its journey.

Her moans grew in volume, interspersed with rounds of dirty talk he didn’t think she was capable of. Sunstreaker sat with his back against the wall, stroking himself with one hand to the rhythm of the contractions that pushed the egg down Sideswipe’s length, while the other was wrapped around his base. He could feel everything Sideswipe did with the bond thrown wide open as it was.

Damn, it felt so good…

*

Shimmer was in ecstasy. She’d never imagined that being impregnated like this would feel so good. She could feel the new egg pushing past her gate, jostling the other eggs inside her as it went. There was another egg at her opening, easing its way through her passage, spreading the lining wide, and she loved it. The pressure was perfect, Sideswipe was perfect. Overload swept her away and her arms collapsed, leaving her resting on her chest, aft up at Sideswipe’s level.

One more egg made its way inside her, prolonging her overload until it was her whole world and there was nothing but the sensation of absolute pleasure and Sideswipe’s ovipositor still anchored in her.

She felt it when his hands came down on either side of her head, shaking arms protecting her and the eggs from his full weight. Then Sunstreaker was there, somehow picking them both up and laying them down on the berth on their sides, being careful of Shimmer’s doorwings. He lay down behind his brother and put his arm around him and the femme, rubbing the bulge of her abdomen where the eggs rested, protruding nicely from her frame. Sideswipe was out and would be for another while.

Shimmer smiled as Sunstreaker’s hand caressed her. She was tired, but didn’t want to sleep. She just wanted to live in this moment, with Sideswipe still inside her and his brother cuddling them both. The rubbing motion felt good, and it soothed the slight pain of her gestation chamber stretching to accommodate the new eggs. But it gradually lulled her to sleep, and she went with a slight smile still on her lips.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What is this? I'm on time for once? Amazing. Shocking, even. Hope you enjoy and don't be afraid to leave a comment. I swear I don't bite unless asked.

Prowl pinged Shimmer’s comm but got no response. He supposed she might be sleeping, but Bluestreak had said that she’d been in the lounge unable to sleep. The younger Praxian had been flushed and smelled slightly of ozone, telling Prowl that he’d recently had an overload.

He reached out and touched the buzzer for her door. No response. Again, and again no response. He pinged her again, more urgently this time.

**::Nn, yes?::** came the groggy response.

**::Are you all right?::**

**::Just tired. Did you need something?::**

**::May I come in?::**

There was a silence on the line for a long moment. **::I’m not in my quarters.::**

It was Prowl’s turn to be silent for a moment. **::Then where are you? You’ve obviously been sleeping.::**

**::Um, I’m with Sideswipe and Sunstreaker. Is that a problem?::**

**::Yes, but we’ll deal with that later. There is someone who would like to meet you, and I told him I would chaperon the meeting. Can you come now?::**

**::I guess I could. Who is this person?::**

**::A mech named Smokescreen. It’s better that you meet him with me rather than run into him on your own. He’s not the most scrupulous mech around, and I’m not certain he’d take no for an answer.::**

**::If that’s the case, I’m not sure I _want_ to meet him.::**

**::Believe me, this is the best time. I can deflect him and once he sees that you’re taken, he’ll leave you alone.::**

**::All right. Let me say my goodbyes and I’ll meet you in a few minutes.::** She cut the comm.

Prowl sighed. He just hoped that the twins were treating her right. He’d hoped that she would pick Bluestreak or himself as a mate, but he hadn’t made his move soon enough. There was nothing, however, keeping him from being protective of her and keeping her from unhealthy situations.

*

Shimmer sighed. Sunstreaker looked at her curiously and Sideswipe wrapped his arms tighter around her above her protruding belly and just under her bumper.

“Are you okay?” Sides asked.

“Prowl just called. He says I need to meet someone, so I have to go.”

“I’m coming with you. If it’s who I think it is, I’m not leaving him alone with you.”

“Prowl said he was playing chaperon, so you don’t have to come.”

“I’m still coming with you. Sunny?”

“Absolutely. It’s probably Smokescreen, and if the time with Blue was any indication, he’s not going to leave you alone without plenty of _convincing_.” His handsome face was darkened by a fearsome scowl, matched exactly by the one on his twin’s face.

“Okay, fine. Let’s go. I told Prowl I’d meet him in a few minutes.”

“You both might want to clean up a bit,” Sunstreaker said, nodding toward their messy arrays.

Shimmer went bright pink. “Um, yes. Let’s.

“No, I want him to know she’s claimed,” Sideswipe said.

“Idiot. He’ll know that by looking at her. And not looking at her array. Clean up or I’m holding you here.”

“And I am _not_ going out looking like some piece of shareware. Hurry up.”

They were clean in a matter of moments, Sunstreaker helping the gravid Shimmer when she needed it.

*

They met Prowl outside of Shimmer’s quarters. He gave them all a _look_ , but didn’t say anything, to the surprise of the twins. He led them toward the sparring rooms without a word until they were outside of one particular room.

“I have warned Smokescreen not to speak to you until I have introduced you,” he addressed Shimmer, “and to not touch you at all unless you invite it. I am relieved that the twins are here, surprisingly. It will make him back off much quicker. To be honest, I wish his mission had taken longer; I am not pleased he is back, despite the fact that he is one of my subordinates. It is no secret that I do not care much for him.”

“Let’s get to it, then,” Sunstreaker growled.

“As you say.”

The door opened at Prowl’s gesture and they all walked in. A blue Praxian stood in the middle of the room. Shimmer felt an immediate pull toward him and waggled her wings in a seductive manner without realising it. He returned the gesture with great interest. She could see that he knew she was taken by the egg-laden protrusion of her midsection, but at the moment she couldn’t care. The pull was strong, stronger than it had been with Bluestreak, and she took an involuntary step toward him before two hands were on her arms and a white one blocked the path in front of her.

She shook her head to clear it and tried to push the thoughts of the mech away. Prowl was speaking, introducing her she thought, and she put all her will into resisting the pull. It was difficult, but she managed just as one of the twins told the mech -- Smokescreen -- in no uncertain terms that she was off limits, at least until the clutch was laid.

Smokescreen raised his hands. “I just wanted to meet her. I can talk to her, right? Nothing else. On my honour.”

“What honour?” she heard the other twin grumble.

“You are not to be alone with her, do you understand?” Prowl demanded to know.

“Is anyone ever really alone with Red’s cameras everywhere except the washracks and quarters? Oh, and offices. And medbay. So really, who is it that shouldn’t be alone with her, Prowl? Me or you?”

“I don’t like what you’re insinuating. I would never stoop to your level.”

“But you want her. Even though you have a mate.”

“Stop talking about me like I’m not here!” Shimmer broke in, finally able to focus. “I’m not an object to be won! Or kept from everyone.” She turned to the twins. “You said that this is a casual thing. And that if I want someone, you’ll do everything you can to facilitate it.”

“I said Sideswipe would. I never said anything about me. Yes, it started out casual, but until that clutch is laid, it is _very_ serious.” Sunstreaker looked at her with possessive optics.

Sideswipe wrapped his arms around her from behind. “If you really want him, I’ll keep Sunny off him,” he whispered to her. “But be really sure about it before you take him to bed. He’s not the staying type. And the fact that he didn’t move when you came in says he’s not nearly as into you like he was Blue. We had to physically pull them apart, and it took me, Sunny, and Prime to do it.”

She looked soberly at Smokescreen again. The mech showed every sign of being as drawn to her as she was to him, but Sideswipe was right. He hadn’t moved a centimetre from his original position, unlike she, who had managed to get a full metre toward him before being physically restrained. Either he was _very_ good at resisting the pull or he was just putting on an act like Sides said. And the story he told about Bluestreak and Smokescreen told her that the blue mech wasn’t as good at resisting the pull as he might seem.

“You’ve met now. I have work to do, so you’ll excuse us while we leave,” Prowl said.

The four of them turned to leave the room. Just before she passed through the door, Shimmer looked back. Smokescreen waggled his wings in a sad farewell, but his optics were calculating, as though turning over ideas to get her alone. She shivered, but she wasn’t sure if it was with uneasiness or with lust.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I've missed a couple of weeks. Life, you know? But my muse seems to be back for the moment and I'm getting a lot written lately. Yay!

Sunstreaker was in a mood. Shimmer knew this by the way mechs shied away from her and the twins. His field was a great indicator as well.

Unfortunately, she wasn’t doing much better. Meeting Smokescreen had hit her hard, and she kept turning over his unspoken offer in her head. Sideswipe’s words chased it, and she didn’t know what to think.

Sideswipe plunked himself down at their table in the common room with three glowing containers of energon. “Here,” he said. “Have some. It’ll help calm your nerves.”

“What is it?” she asked, picking up a cube and swirling the contents around. There was an iridescent shimmer to the fluid that she found hypnotic in the way it moved.

“Just drink it. You’ll feel better, I promise.”

Sunstreaker knocked his back in one go, then reached for the third. Sideswipe slapped his hand away and took a swig. Shimmer shrugged and took a drink. She was immediately assaulted by the almost overly-sweet taste of highly refined energon that made her tank turn.

“Sideswipe, I can’t drink this. I’m just barely allowed regular energon.”

“You’ll be fine.”

“Let me put it this way: I’m not drinking this.” She set the cube down and pushed it over toward Sunstreaker, who immediately downed it.

“What’s your problem?” the red mech snapped.

“I don’t know, what’s yours? I told you I couldn’t drink that, and if I’d kept at it, I’d’ve purged all over the place. Ratchet just let me start having regular energon and I haven’t built up to high-grade.”

“Technically, it’s jet-grade.”

She rolled her optics. “Oh, that makes it _so_ much better. Either way, it’s off-limits and I’ve half a mind to tell Ratchet you tried to poison me.”

“I wouldn’t!”

“Shut up, both of you. Look who just came in.” Sunstreaker nodded at the doorway to the lounge.

Smokescreen stood off to the side of the door, cheerily greeting mechs he knew. His wings dipped and waved, once flicking nonchalantly at a comment from one of his companions. Shimmer couldn’t understand the conversation, but she could understand that the blue mech was a glib speaker with an easy way about him. That and her peevishness toward the twins in general - and Sideswipe in particular - made her want to get to know him better.

“Let me out. I need to go get something I can drink, then I’m going to my quarters.” She glowered at Sideswipe until he moved, sliding out of the booth before her.

“I’ll come with you,” he said.

“No, I’m going alone, and you’re going to comply with my wishes. I need to be alone for a little while. Too many people around.”

“At least let me walk you to your quarters.”

“No. If you come, then Sunstreaker’s going to come. And frankly, I think you guys scare people. You’re also really noticeable, what with the bright paint and the sexy frames. Just let me be for a while.”

Sunstreaker glared but didn’t say anything. Sideswipe looked like he was going to, then subsided. “Go on, then. See you later?” he asked hopefully.

She fluttered her wings. “Yes, I’ll see both of you later.” She made her way to the energon dispensers and pulled a plain cube, then dodged mechs between them and the door. As she passed, she made sure her right wing brushed up against Smokescreen’s left, then flicked it to get his attention.

She continued on her way, refusing to look behind her to see if he was coming. She’d know when he caught up to her, if he’d taken her invitation.

All the way to the last turn before her quarters, she felt nothing. No pull to tell her that Smokescreen had followed her. She felt vaguely disappointed as she punched in the code for her door.

She drew up short when ice-blue optics looked up at her from where their owner sat in her desk chair. “Prowl! I wasn’t expecting you.”

“To be quite honest, I wasn’t entirely expecting _you_ ,” he said. He rose from the chair and offered it to her, but she shook her head and moved past to sit on the bunk. “I figured you would stay with the twins.”

“Sideswipe is practically wearing my plating; I needed to get away for a little while. What’s your excuse?”

His wings flicked sharply. “I had hoped to talk with you. As a friend.”

“About Smokescreen, right?”

He sighed. “I would warn you away from him; his scruples are few. But he is an Autobot and I can safely say he has never betrayed us. I am glad the twins were there with us when we met with him, though. I think their presence distracted him from the coding.”

“So he was interested?”

“Very much so, but he was more interested in remaining in one piece. I think if I had been the only one with you, it would not have turned out as… appropriate as it did.”

“He said you want me.”

One wing flicked rhythmically in agitation. When he spoke, it was clear that it was only begrudgingly. “I do. You’re Praxian and everything in me screams for me to take you as mate. Alas, we are both already spoken for. You and the twins, me and my partner. I had hoped you would consider Bluestreak if not myself.”

“I did. And would have taken him physically if he hadn’t been about to go on shift and stopped it himself. He said he’d rather be able to take his time than have a quick romp on the sofa. And then I met the twins.”

“What were you thinking?”

“I was thinking I’d burn off some of the charge I’d built up with Bluestreak. But then they hit on one of my kinks that I hadn’t known I have, and now I’m in it for some time.”

“I see. They did tell you they’re Gestarth, correct?”

“Yes. Primus, you sound like Ratchet.”

“There is reason for that, you know.”

“You two seem to be old friends.”

“We are, but there is more to it than that. And I think that is all I’ll tell you.” His lips quirked up on one side, there and gone in an instant.

“And I’m pretty sure you just gave it away,” she said with a predatory grin.

“Perhaps, but I’ll not let you know one way or the other. So the point is moot.”

“Just wait til I get hold of Ratchet.”

“You’re not going to have any more luck with him than with me. We’re both too good at keeping secrets.”

“And when Ratchet’s surprised, he tends to make tiny slips.”

“You found this out with the Gestarth question, didn’t you? He always slips on that one. Sometimes I think it’s on purpose.”

She appraised him for a moment. “Are _you_ Gestarth?”

“I’m Praxian, and that’s all you need to know. Now,” and he rose from the chair, “I think it’s time I take my leave.”

“Sure, cut and run,” she said with a cheeky smile.

“My work is never done,” he quipped, “though this was a welcome break. Thank you for speaking with me and for not kicking me out when you first came in, although you had every right to.”

“It’s not something I want to happen all the time, but this time it was a welcome distraction. I’ll see you another time?”

“Until next we meet.” He took her hand and kissed the back of it, then disappeared out the door.

Her spark pounded in its chamber and her fuel pump raced. He really was attractive, and a gentlemech to boot. If only…

*

A knock at her door woke her from the doze she’d fallen into. She got up to answer it. Probably the twins. She hadn’t given them the code for her door, and for that she was grateful, since she had a place to be alone.

It wasn’t the twins.

She swiftly pulled the blue mech into her quarters, lest anyone see him standing in the hallway. The door automatically locked after him, and she pressed him up against it, her frame moulding to his as she kissed him passionately.

He returned the kiss with equal fervour, hands exploring her frame expertly, teasing out hotspots. He pressed forward, manoeuvering her to the berth. Their fields twined as though they’d been together for years.

“Want you,” Shimmer said between kisses.

“Sorry it took me so long,” Smokescreen said, regret in his voice. “I had to make sure the twins weren’t watching when I left.”

“Mm, it’s fine. Prowl was here, so it worked out.”

“You didn’t -”

“No, much as I’d like to. But enough talk. I intend to have you, and I want you now.”

“As you wish.” He turned them and let himself fall onto the berth, pulling Shimmer on top of him. “How does my lady want me?”

“‘Your lady’?” She giggled. “I want to ride your spike.” She caressed the plating over his array. It gave way and his spike jutted forward into her hand. “And then maybe after I’ll have your spark?”

He moaned as she stroked him. “No bonding,” he said firmly, “but a good overload is just fine.”

“Mmm, good.” She settled herself over him and released her plating. A drop of moisture fell onto Smokescreen’s spike and ran down the side as she lowered herself onto him. Dual groans of pleasure rolled out when her valve fully engulfed him.

He pulled her down to kiss her again. “You feel so good,” he whispered into her audial.

“Ditto,” she whispered back as she began to move. His hands rested gently on her hips as she rose and fell, letting her set the pace. “You know, I’ve been warned away from you.”

“I figured as much. I’m ‘unscrupulous and flighty.’ Prowl doesn’t like me much, but he tolerates me because I’m good at my job.”

“Hmm,” she responded intelligently. There was a sensor cluster she’d just hit on that felt _so_ good. She fell forward, catching herself on his shoulders, their bumpers just touching. The shift in position changed the clusters being rubbed within her valve to deeper ones and she gasped.

“You okay?”

“Yeah, just felt _really_ good.”

“Doing my job, then,” he said with a cheeky grin.

She flicked a headlamp, then soothed the sting with her tongue. “Yes you are. Am I?”

“No worries in that department, sweetspark. Definitely no worries.”

She felt him twitch in her. “You’re gonna be able to hold out, right?” she asked with a deliberately slow twist and pull of her hips.

“Not if you keep doing that.”

The noises he made were music to her audials. “Doing what?” she asked sweetly. “Oh, you mean _this_?” She repeated the move and added a roll of the callipers in her valve.

His optics rolled back into his head and he groaned heavily. “Primus, femme,” he panted out when he could speak again, “you’re going to be the death of me. Either from pleasure - which I’d much prefer if I’m to die - or from the twins dismembering me, which I’d prefer to avoid.”

“I’d much prefer you stay around. Stay away from Sunstreaker and you should be good. I’ll make sure to let Sideswipe know.”

“You talk like this is going to be a regular occurrence.”

She frowned and paused mid-motion. “And you talk like it’s not.”

“I wasn’t expecting it, honestly. I figured this would be a ‘one and done’ thing.”

“It certainly can be,” she snapped, wings fanning out in a threat display.

“Whoa, I didn’t mean it like that. It’s just been my past experience. I’ve never had the same lover twice, and not usually through my own choice.” He looked earnest enough, but she didn’t know him enough to be able to tell for sure. “Believe me, if I have a choice, I’d love to continue seeing you.”

“Seeing me in bed, you mean.”

“Of course, but also in public. I would like to court you. And I know that generally means no interfacing, but if you’re game, I’m definitely open to the possibility.”

“Court me. As in a formal courtship? Even though you know I’m currently claimed by the twins.”

“It didn’t stop you from fragging me this time.” His brow quirked upward along with his lips.

“I was curious. I saw an opportunity and took it. It was good up until you opened your mouth.”

“I really am sorry for that. I have to go off of past experience until I know otherwise. I think everyone does that.”

She considered his words for a moment. “Okay. While I think we’re done here, I’ll let you have your chance at courtship.”

“You’re sure.”

“Yes. Just don’t piss off the twins. I have to deal with them for a while. I’ll explain to Prowl and Sideswipe that you intend to court me formally and what that means to Sides if he doesn’t know already. He told me he’d keep Sunny off of you if I really wanted you, and I think he’ll keep to his word, especially once he understands what a formal courtship consists of. But you have to promise to leave me alone if I decide you’re not what I want in a mate.”

“I would do nothing less for you, my dear.”

“You’re cute.” She gave him a chaste kiss on the lips and backed away. She sighed and said, “I really wish I had a private washrack.”

“Next time you want to interface, come to my quarters. I’m an officer, although a fairly low-ranking one, but I still rate a private shower. All the officers do, which is why you’ll only rarely see an officer in the public washracks. Except Jazz. He likes to mingle with the soldiers and the rest of the crew. Says it helps him remember what he’s fighting for.”

“Jazz is sweet.”

“I’m glad you think so. He can be scary as the Pit when he wants to be.”

“Pfft.”

“I’m serious.”

“Sure.”


	10. Chapter 10

“So, what were you doing with Smokescreen? I saw him leave your quarters.” Sunstreaker fell into step with her as she left her room.

“What do you think I was doing with him?” she shot back.

“Fragging him.”

“Absolutely. Until his big mouth ruined it.”

Sunstreaker grinned evilly.

“Where’s Sideswipe?”

“Ratchet wanted to talk to him. I wanted to talk to you. Let’s go to our quarters. Won’t have so much... _traffic_ there.”

She pulled up short. “Wait, are you calling me a slut?”

“Not what I was intending, but if the armour fits…”

She slapped him hard across the face and snarled right back at him when he snarled. A passing mech stopped out of harm’s way and quietly commed Security while watching the pale femme face off against the larger gold mech.

Golden optics flashed and lavender optics narrowed. Shimmer crouched, instinctively protecting her belly and the eggs within. “You don’t want to do this, Sunstreaker.”

“Do what?” he asked, nonchalantly standing back up and affecting a bored pose. “I just wanted to see how far you’d go to protect the eggs.”

“You’re an aft.”

“I’ve been called that before. It doesn’t hurt my feelings. Come on, I really did want to talk to you.” He reached out and took her wrist and pulled her toward him.

“Let me go. I can walk on my own, you don’t need to pull me.”

“Let me hold your hand?”

“After you called me a slut? I don’t think so.”

He backed her against the bulkhead and lowered his head to whisper in her audial, “You may be a slut, but you’re _my_ slut and I want you bad. Will you have me?” He ran his hand gently down her side, teasing hot spots and weakening her resolve.

“You called me a slut. I can’t just forgive that,” she said with a quaver in her voice and a slight hitch in her vents. He knew exactly where to touch to get the best response, and her body was certainly responding.

“Sunstreaker! Back away from her,” a new voice called out.

Sunstreaker rolled his optics and very insolently backed away. “I wasn’t doing anything, Spazz. You don’t need to be here.”

“My _name_ is Red Alert, and as I am an officer, you should respect that. And from what I saw and was reported to me, you were getting into an altercation with this femme.” He partially turned his attention to Shimmer. “Are you well?”

“Aside from a bit torqued at him, I’m fine. Thanks.”

“Do you wish for him to leave you alone?”

“Actually, yeah, I do. At least for now.”

“Then come with me. I’ll escort you wherever you need to go.”

She scooted away from Sunstreaker. “I need to go talk to Prowl.”

“Prowl is in a meeting right now, and I dare not interrupt it.”

Her wings drooped for a second. “Oh. Well, can I wait?”

“You could, but I wouldn’t recommend it. These meetings can take hours, and Prowl doesn’t usually come out of them in the best of moods. You’d do better to catch him tomorrow between 1130 and 1230. Unless it’s official business, then you can comm him to set up an appointment, but again not until tomorrow.”

“What do you want with that rod-up-his-aft, anyway?” Sunstreaker interrupted.

“I have a personal matter to speak with him about, and it’s none of your business at the moment,” she tossed over her shoulder at him.

“Come on, I’ll take you to see Sideswipe and Ratchet, then. They’re better company. I’ll even leave you alone with them.” He was doing everything he could to keep her, it seemed.

“No. Although I do need to talk to your brother at some point.” She turned her attention from Sunstreaker. “Red Alert, thank you for the warning, but I think I’ll wait for Prowl to be done with his meeting. If you could show me the way?”

“I still wouldn’t recommend it, but what you do with your time is your business. Come with me.”

“Thank you.” She took his arm and felt him flinch. They walked away toward their destination, Red flinching every couple of seconds, until he stopped and carefully extracted his arm from her grasp.

“It’s nothing against you, but I prefer not to be touched. I’m hypersensitive and it makes my plating crawl.”

“I feel the same way about certain touches to my wings. It’s not a problem, and I’m sorry I made you uncomfortable.”

They continued on.

“Here is Prowl’s office. If you want to wait, there’s an alcove a little way down the corridor that you can see his door from. I need to get back to the Security Room. Will you be okay on your own?”

“I think so, and thank you. I would kiss your cheek, but you don’t like being touched.”

“I appreciate the sentiment, at any rate. Goodbye.”

*

Shimmer moved down the hall a short way until she found the alcove with a few chairs and a datapad rack in it. There was also another mech there.

“Bluestreak! Hi! How are you?” She smiled widely.

“Hey. I’m… okay. How are you?” His wings told a completely different story, though.

“I’m okay. Do you mind if I sit with you?”

“I’d really rather you didn’t. I don’t feel like talking.”

“Are you waiting for Prowl, too?”

He didn’t reply. Not even a twitch of a wing.

“Bluestreak, please talk to me?”

“Why?”

“Because I like you and I want to talk to you.”

“How do you know you like me? It could just be the social coding.”

“No, I don’t think so. I think I like you because you’re sweet and funny and cute. Maybe at first it was social coding, but I don’t think it is now.” She sat in the chair next to his and rested her wing on his. “Tell me what’s bothering you?”

It took a while, but eventually it came out. He swore her to secrecy, but the bounce seemed to be coming back into his demeanour. She was happy to see that.

“Red Alert said we may be here for hours. Know of any fun ways to pass the time?” she asked.

He took her hand and tugged it forward, indicating he wanted her to stand. Once standing, he pulled her close enough that she either had to sit on his lap or bend down and put her hands on his shoulders to keep her balance. She wound up in his lap.

“We could pick up where we left off?” he said, big blue optics staring into hers.

“I’m really not feeling up to interfacing right now, especially in public like this, but I’ll kiss you all day long.”

“That’s all I’m really asking for. Though if you change your mind, I’m up for it.”

“Noted. Now shut up and kiss me.”


	11. Chapter 11

Prowl was certainly not in the best of moods. The meeting had run long, and many of his suggestions had been discarded in favour of Jazz’s. He had no animosity toward the mech, but he did find him a bit too much of an unknown factor in his calculations, particularly since Special Ops tended to keep their full capabilities as much of a secret as their missions. It irked him to have a resource and not know how best to use it.

He was closing in on his office when the pull of social coding made itself known. Bluestreak had come to see him again. He pushed aside the remains of his feelings toward the meeting and prepared himself to listen to the young Praxian.

He wasn’t prepared for the sight when he stopped at the alcove near his office. Yes, it appeared that Bluestreak had indeed come to see him, but had found alternate solace in the company of Shimmer. No wonder the pull had been stronger than usual.

He continued on his way, but only got a couple of steps before Shimmer’s voice called out his name. He sighed and retraced his steps to find Bluestreak holding the femme facing outward on his lap, still kissing and nibbling at her neck. “Yes?” He was happy his voice didn’t crackle with static. There was a distinct heat pooling behind his interface panel.

“Do you have a few minutes? I wanted to talk to you about Smokescreen.”

“Don’t need him,” Bluestreak muttered between kisses.

“I have a few. Bluestreak.”

“Another time?” the young mech asked Shimmer.

“Another time,” she responded, slipping out of his lap and leaning down to kiss him full on the lips.

*

She followed Prowl into his office, the door shutting automatically behind her.

“I want to thank you for helping Bluestreak; I’m honestly not sure I was up to the task tonight.”

“Sure. It was no problem. I wanted to talk to you because Smokescreen has requested to formally court me.”

Prowl fell into his chair. “That… That honestly surprises me. What did you tell him?”

“That I would give him a chance, but if I found him unsuitable he’d have to back off.”

“And you’re telling me because you don’t have any family to chaperon. Am I right?”

“Yes.”

He stood back up and began rifling through the stacks of datapads on his desk. “Do you see all of this? I don’t have the time to chaperon a formal courtship. No one here does. Technically, he doesn’t have the time to formally court you. Certainly not the resources. This is folly.”

“Oh?”

“What happens when he gets sent out on another long mission?”

“The courtship gets put on hold.”

He came around the desk, stalking her slowly.“For how long?”

“Un-until he comes back.”

“And if he doesn’t?”

“I’ll mourn for him.”

“You won’t consider any other proposals?”

She was backed up into a corner, Prowl’s arms coming up to block her in. “L-like what?”

“Me.” And he kissed her with so much heat and passion it stole the air from her vents. Social coding and her own want kicked in and had her responding almost immediately. The air around them shimmered with heat. He gathered her in his arms and carried her back to his desk, which he swept clean of datapads.

He sat her on the edge of the desk and spread her legs. She let them go willingly, eagerly. She _wanted_ this mech, and be damned if she wasn’t going to have him. She felt his spike on her interface cover and opened it swiftly. He tested the lining of her valve with two fingers before removing them and replacing them with the tip of his spike.

Those two fingers went to his mouth as he pulled away and made a show of licking and sucking them clean of her fluids. Then he carefully lowered her back to the desktop and settled his hands on her hips.

His first thrust had her crying out in pleasure. He pulled almost all the way out, then shoved in again, her cry louder this time. He continued the push-pull of the rhythm he’d set, relishing the feel of the textures inside her valve. Her hands scrabbled at the desk, his hands, his arms, his chest; anywhere they could reach. He added a twist of the hips to the rhythm and she screamed his name.

Heat pooled in her valve, a growing pressure that told her she was going to overload soon. With each stroke of Prowl’s spike in her valve, she could feel what she now recognised as a knot pressing up against her, popping in and out and adding just that much more sensation. She couldn’t care less, though, deliriously happy that she’d be tied to him. Coding only encouraged all of her feelings. _This is the mech for you_ , it proclaimed to her, over and over again, and she began to believe it.

*

Prowl felt his knot expanding but knew he had some time before it would become impossible to remove from her valve. He decided to play with sensations and pushed it in and pulled it back out. There was just enough tightness in her valve that it made for a delightful feeling; popping it out of her, then back in, then back out. It felt so good and so engrossed in his game was he that one time he popped it in… and it didn’t pull back out. She grunted at him when he tried in earnest to pull his knot back out, but he was stuck pressing forward. He had a little wiggle room for the moment until they were well and truly tied together, and instead of lamenting what he could not change, he decided to celebrate it.

Short, shallow thrusts came in rapid bursts and she cried out in overload. The knot inside her kept growing, expanding the walls of her valve until they could stretch no more. Once they were locked together, she knew it was only a matter of seconds until he overloaded. She squirmed on his spike, rolling her hips and the callipers in her valve around him.

A gasp was all the warning she got before transfluid exploded into her valve and through the gate to her gestation chamber, bathing the eggs inside in Prowl’s transfluid. He continued to cum in her for a while, and it felt so good, she didn’t want him to stop.

“May I have your spark?” he asked, voice rough.

She didn’t even stop to think about it; just sent the command to bare it.

He did the same and brought their chests into alignment. “Oh, I want you,” he whispered and pressed in close, bringing their sparks into contact.

An immediate dual overload took them, neither able to pull away from the other. Both screamed from the intensity of it until it tripped particular circuits and shut them down.

*

Shimmer woke on her front, lying on someone. There was a faint murmur in the back of her head, almost like a radio signal that had been turned far down. Her spark felt almost heavy, full of life. She moved to roll off whomever her partner was and discovered very quickly that they were connected at the interface array.

She blinked her optics open and looked down at the face below hers.

Prowl.

Ice-blue optics met gold and held them. A distinct sense of panic welled in her spark, even though she knew it wasn’t her. And then she did panic.

Sparkbonded.

They both struggled to get up, but joined as they were, only managed to get sitting up, Prowl leaning back on his hands, arms locked.

“I’m sorry,” he said, remorse in his voice, doorwings, and framespeak. “I didn’t mean for this to happen.”

“I don’t know if I’m _ready_ to be sparkbonded.”

“The point is moot. We are bonded, and there is no going back now.”

“Damn that coding, and damn you for being so attractive to it. What am I going to do now?”

“We will figure this out. Calm down.”

She gave him a withering look.

“I must tell my mate and Optimus immediately. Until the bond has settled, we will need to be near each other almost constantly. Either I will have to stop working, or you will have to get a high enough security clearance, which would require you to join the Autobots. I can’t justify quitting working, though. There is no one to take my place.”

“So I’m going to have to join the Autobots. I was thinking about it anyway.”

He shook his head. “It’s not just joining the Autobots. You have to be able to qualify for my level of security clearance, which means we’re going to have to figure out who exactly you are as soon as possible. I can take myself off the roster for a week, but that’s all the time I can spare, and I’ll be backed up by the time I come back.”

“Okay. Nothing difficult, then, huh?” she said with a nervous laugh.

Prowl just looked at her flatly.


	12. Chapter 12

Prowl decided it was better to let Optimus know first. Knowing the mech, he figured he’d still be in his office despite the late hour and headed there first, Shimmer trailing in his wake.

He was right. Optimus didn’t exactly look happy to see him again, but he gestured for them to speak.

“Shimmer and I have bonded, sir. Unintentionally.”

Optimus just pinched the bridge of his nose and hid his optics for a while. Shimmer and Prowl stood quietly, both sets of doorwings lowered apologetically, until he emerged from behind his hand. When he did, he just asked, “How much time do you need?”

“I can take a week off before I get too backed up on work.”

“Not what I asked.”

Prowl glanced over at Shimmer before replying. “We truly need a full month before the bond settles properly, but I can’t justify taking that much time, sir.”

“You have it. Make the most of it. Is there anything else?”

“I want to join the Autobots, sir,” Shimmer spoke up. “I want to try for Prowl’s level of security clearance.”

Optimus regarded her carefully. “You will be a welcome addition once those eggs are laid, but not before. Prowl’s security clearance, though, would be a difficult one to obtain. Only two mechs aside from him and myself currently qualify.”

“May I ask who, sir?”

“Jazz and Red Alert. Directors of Special Operations and Security, respectively. Not only will you be required to undergo weapons training and pick a field to go into, you would be required to memorise the Autobot Code and have a solid Security and Strategy education.”

“I can handle a gun, sir. Both projectile and energy.”

“And you know this how?”

“I just do. I remember going to the ranges in Praxus, but not who I was with. I just know I was expected to know how they worked and how to fire them if I had to. I would assume I went to the ranges with my progenitors.”

Optimus frowned at the answer, but he didn’t dispute her, just turned to the other Praxian in the room. “Prowl, I hate to do this, but I’m going to have to put you on restricted duty after your time off is up. Jazz and Red Alert will continue to take over your Command duties, and you will have no input on any new missions that may crop up. We will welcome your assistance with the battlefield, although by comm only, not in person.”

“I had hoped that it would not come to that. Since it has, I suggest you consult with Smokescreen. He is a capable strategist,” Prowl grudgingly admitted.

“I will take that under advisement. Is there anything else, then?” Optimus’ optics seemed to bore into Shimmer’s, seeing through to her very core.

“Nothing that I can think of, sir.”

“No, sir. Except… thank you. For everything.”

Optimus was quiet for a moment. “You are welcome. Now get out of here and go do whatever it is that newly-bondeds do that I have no wish to think about right now, particularly in regards to my second in command.”

“Yes, sir.” Prowl saluted and turned for the door.

Shimmer threw her best salute and followed. “We’re going to meet your mate now?” she asked when the door had closed behind them again.

Prowl winced and had to force his doorwings up again to appear normal. “Yes,” he said, very subdued.

She could feel his turmoil in her own spark and it twisted her tank until she felt she was going to purge. She could only imagine what it was doing to him. //Are you going to be okay?//

//No.// “I have broken a promise I made to him quite some time ago. When we first started our relationship, in fact. I’m not entirely sure he’ll forgive me.”

*

“Shimmer!”

She felt a brief wave of relief from Prowl as they were waylaid by Sideswipe. The red frontliner picked her up and swung her around in a circle until she yelled for him to stop. When he set her down again, she leaned against the wall and put a hand to her mouth until she was certain her tank was under control. “What do you need, Sideswipe?”

“Well, we were wondering when you were going to come back.” He sounded uncertain.

“Tomorrow. Maybe. I’m not sure.”

“In a week would be better,” Prowl said.

“With all due respect, Prowl, sir, it’s not your concern.”

“It is now.”

“What do you mean? Shimmer, what does he mean?” He was definitely uncertain now.

Her wings dropped. She didn’t want to tell him. But she didn’t want to lie to him, either. “Don’t freak out on me, okay? Sunny freaked out on me earlier and I don’t want a repeat.”

“He told me how much of an idiot he was. Well, not in those exact words, but I got the gist. Come on, let’s go back to quarters and he can apologise to you. Cuz, you know, you’ve got that knack for getting him to apologise and all.”

“Sides, I can’t. Not tonight. Prowl and I… well…”

“Please don’t say what I think you’re going to say. Bluestreak told us about the social coding.”

“I’m sorry. We weren’t intending to bond. It just happened.” She looked helplessly at him.

“No. Nope, not hearing this. _Definitely_ not thinking about it. Nope. I’m not going home and telling Sunny about this. You get to explain to him why you’re not coming around any more. Because he’ll ask. He’s going to ask me when I come back without you, and I am _not_ telling him this. I’m just going to tell him that he needs to talk to you if he wants to know anything.”

“Fine.” She sighed quietly. “You don’t hate me, do you?”

“Pfft. Hate you? No. Am I upset with you? A little. I don’t understand it, but then, I don’t have to. I’m not Praxian, and you’re not Gestarth and we don’t have to completely understand each other. I’m mostly peeved because it’s Prowl. No offence,” he added quickly, seeing the glower begin on Prowl’s face.

“Being a broad- and fair-minded officer, I will let that slide. But don’t think you can get away with insulting me again.”

“Honestly, sir, it wasn’t an insult. You caught what we wanted. Still want, if everyone agrees.”

“We will see. But for tonight, we have somewhere to be.”

“Uh, right. I’ll just… see you around then, huh?”

“As soon as I can, Sides, I’ll be around, at least to talk.”

“Alright, then.” And he disappeared back around the corner he’d come from.

*

The quarters they finally stopped at were right next to the medbay and nowhere near any of the others. Prowl keyed the door open and ushered Shimmer inside.

“Ratchet appears to be sleeping. If he is, I’m not going to wake him. Not even for this.” He headed for the door to the berthroom, but before he could reach it, it opened.

“Prowl? Who are you talking to? Oh.” Ratchet froze when he saw Shimmer. His surprise showed on his face for all of one second, then it morphed into hurt and suspicion, and then it was gone altogether. “What is she doing here?”

Prowl’s doorwings dropped into showing shame. “Shimmer and I are bonded,” he managed to choke out before his vocaliser gave out on him.

“You’re. What?” Ratchet asked slowly, the calm before the storm.

“Bonded,” Shimmer answered when Prowl responded with clicks. She lowered her doorwings to the same position as Prowl’s. “We didn’t mean to. It just happened.”

“You wouldn’t bond with me, but you’ll bond with a Praxian trollop you just met!?”

“I’m sorry, Ratchet,” Prowl whispered.

Shimmer’s wings shot back up into an offended pose.

//Don’t. Please.//

She subsided, but not before Ratchet noticed her outrage. He rounded on her.

“You. I save your life and put you back together and this is how you thank me!? Stealing his mind and body weren’t enough, you had to take his spark, too? Oh yes, you’re all he’s thought about since he took you out for that first walk.” He turned back to Prowl. “So what happened that you couldn’t keep your hands off her? Because there’s always a reason. Am I not enough for you any more?”

Prowl’s mouth moved a few times before his vocaliser kicked in. “It is all my fault. I was in a poor frame of mind after the meeting with Optimus and she and Bluestreak were snogging in the alcove before my office. She wanted to talk to me about an offer Smokescreen had made and I fogged over and offered myself in his place. I shouldn’t have done it, but I did, and I’m sorry I’ve hurt you.”

“Fragging straight you shouldn’t have done it. You made a promise, Prowl.”

“I know, and for that I know I can’t apologise enough.”

“Get out. I don’t want to see you, or _her_. I don’t give a flying frag where you go, but you’re not staying here.”

“Ratchet.”

“No. Get the frag out. Go play with your new toy. Or whatever you want to do. Doesn’t matter to me.”

Shimmer flicked her wings in anger at being called a toy, but she could hear the lie in his voice. He cared very much what Prowl did. He loved Prowl very much, and was beyond hurt by his betrayal.

Prowl lowered his head and slowly turned for the door. //Let us go, then.//

Shimmer got to the door first and stepped out into the corridor. She waited for Prowl to slog his way through the emotion-charged room and out into the hall with her. Both looked at Ratchet again as the door closed, Shimmer with frustration and Prowl with deep sadness.

*

Ratchet wanted to throw things. He knew it was the social coding that had prompted the episode, but he couldn’t help but feel betrayed. Prowl had promised him that he would never cheat on him, unlike Fastlane, who had proposed to him only to be caught with another mech two days before their bonding ceremony. Again, that damned social coding. Ratchet had been a mess after that, and Prowl had stood by him through the whole ordeal.

Their relationship had been so good. Prowl would look, but never touch, even if the coding demanded. And now _this_.

He turned and punched the wall, leaving a nice dent in the metal. Tears sprang to his optics as he felt something in his hand give way and he fought them. He wouldn’t cry.

He wouldn’t.


	13. Chapter 13

Prowl and Shimmer made their way back to her quarters. Prowl’s doorwings stayed low even though he fought to raise them. To his embarrassment, they passed several mechs in the hallways, each giving odd looks at the second in command’s posture. Shimmer could tell that this would be the base gossip before the hour was out. 

They sat on her berth for hours, Shimmer just holding Prowl as he had an emotional breakdown. When they finally slept, it was fitfully, Prowl waking many times from nightmares. He wouldn’t talk about them, but she got snippets of them in her own dreams. Most weren’t that upsetting for her beyond how much they upset Prowl, but there were a couple that were truly scary which had to be from his time as an Enforcer in Praxus.

For the next few days they stayed in, hidden away from the rest of the base except for when Shimmer went out to get them energon. She tried to avoid the lounge when it was busy and managed to stay out of sight of everyone she knew. She really didn’t feel like explaining why she was hiding in her room.

Jazz commed her after the third day, asking if she knew where Prowl was. **::He ain’t picking up my calls an’ I got a wrench thrown at my head when I asked Ratch where he is. Red said last time he saw Prowl on the cameras he was with you.::**

**::He’s still here,::** she said carefully.

**::Great. Keep him there. I’ll be right over.::**

True to his word, Jazz knocked at Shimmer’s door within a few minutes. When she let him in, Prowl looked at her like she’d betrayed him.

“Here, now, none of that, Prowler. Ya don’t need to take your frustrations out on her. I’m here ‘cause I need to hear from your mouth why you’re compromised. Optimus wouldn’t say. I have my suspicions, but I need you to confirm ‘em.”

“We’ve bonded. Shimmer and I.”

“‘S what I thought. No wonder I got a wrench to the helm. Primus, Prowl.”

“We didn’t mean to bond,” Shimmer put in.

“Yeah, well, fact is you did, and nothin’s gonna change that now. Gotta say, Prowl, you don’t do things by halves, do ya? Makes things hard for everybody. I don’t mind some extra work, but this ain’t just for a little while.”

“You’re not helping anything by shaming him, Jazz.”

“I ain’t here to make him feel better about himself. I’m telling him as a friend just how much he’s fragged everything up.”

“He’s right. I was ridiculously irresponsible and I’ve messed up more than just my relationship with Ratchet.”

“Ain’t just you, Prowler. Takes two to tango.” He gave Shimmer a pointed look.

She stared right back. “I hope you’re not expecting an apology. You’re not getting one. I’m sorry everyone’s inconvenienced by it, but I’m not sorry we bonded.”

“Good. I ain’t overly pleased by the fact it happened, but at least he’s not gonna go through life bonded to someone who don’t care about ‘im.”

“Thank you, Jazz. Is that all?” Prowl asked.

“There’s a bunch of scuttlebutt ‘round the base, sayin’ all kinds of things ‘bout ya. I’m doing my best to settle it all down, but you’d probably better get back out into public so’s mechs can see ya and ya can shut ‘em down yourself.”

Prowl sighed. “Very well. Tomorrow.”

“Sooner the better, Pr-”

“ _Tomorrow_ , Jazz. Now go away.”

He left without another word, leaving them to their solitude.

Prowl looked at Shimmer with a new determination in his optics. “We need to begin your education now so you have a chance at gaining the security clearance you need when you join the Autobots.”

“All right. Let’s start, then.”

*

Shimmer poked her head into medbay and looked around, hoping that Ratchet wasn’t anywhere in sight. She didn’t want to get brained by a flying wrench. When she didn’t immediately see him, she walked in, still a little nervous. Even after two months, Ratchet wouldn’t talk to Prowl and had given Shimmer cold glares on the rare occasion she ran into him. He’d begun spending time with Smokescreen, much to Prowl’s dismay.

“Come on in, Shimmer,” a different medic called to her cheerfully. When she approached, he said, “Ratchet’s taken himself off of your care, so I’ll be your doctor from now on. My name’s Rivet. How ‘bout you just hop on up here and we’ll see how those eggs are doing.”

She complied, not exactly hopping, but getting up onto the berth anyway. She lay back when instructed to do so and let him run his scans.

“Looking good. They’re developing well. If they continue like this, you’ll probably lay them in another month and a half or so and they’ll hatch soon after.”

“Oh good. The sooner the better.”

“Not too soon, though, or they won’t survive,” Rivet chided.

“Of course.”

“Okay, you’re all set!”

She let him help her up and slid off the berth. “Thanks.”

“No problem,” he said with a big smile. “You’re good to go. Just keep up whatever you’ve been doing and you won’t have to take supplements. I’ll see you at your next appointment.”

*

She relayed the status of the eggs to the twins on her way back to her quarters. Sunstreaker nodded and Sideswipe pulled her in for a quick kiss. “How much time do you have?” he asked.

“As much as I want. Prowl’s back on duty. Why?”

“We were just wondering if you’d stay with us for a while. We’re on duty here in a few hours, but if you want, we’d like to have you. I mean here. I mean just to talk, unless you want more?”

“Why wouldn’t I want more?” she asked with a little grin. “I’m still not very good at blocking Prowl out, but he can block me pretty well, so it shouldn’t interfere too much with his work.”

“You’re sure Prowl doesn’t mind.”

“I can ask him again if it really worries you. But his answer hasn’t changed since we told Sunstreaker about our bond.” That had actually gone over better than Shimmer had anticipated. Sunstreaker had just shrugged it off and asked if she’d still come over from time to time. She had readily agreed, and Prowl said it didn’t bother him. She could tell that it did, but it was more that he just didn’t want to think about her and the twins rather than he didn’t want her to be with anyone else. “Or the time after that.”

Sunstreaker swept her up and kissed her thoroughly. She wrapped her legs around his waist and held on as she gave as good as she got. He walked her over to the berth and carefully laid her down on it. She pulled him down with her and he went willingly, touching her everywhere and teasing her hotspots. When he laid a hand on her interface cover it slid aside, baring her to him and he plunged his fingers into her valve.

He pulled them back out and pushed them in again, each time hitting a different set of nodes. When he was sure she could take him, he removed his fingers and hilted himself in her, then paused to lick his fingers clean. He smirked and circled his hips when she squirmed under him, moving his spike in her just a little bit. She huffed in frustration and felt the bond slam closed as Prowl realised what was going on and shut her out. She smiled as lingering traces of his arousal registered.

Then Sunstreaker moved and all she could think about was the smooth glide of his spike in her and her growing charge. Her overload swept her away and the golden mech kept thrusting through it, prolonging it into a series of overloads. His knot expanded within her, locking them together and pressing against all of the nodes ringing the opening of her valve. It threw her into yet another strut-shaking overload and she panted heavily when it finally let her go.

“Think I just saw Primus,” she gasped out, clenching her valve around the spike inside her. Sunstreaker moaned. She could feel him tensing as precursor to his own overload and set the callipers in her valve to fluttering around him.

He overloaded with a shout, transfluid flooding her gestation chamber. She felt his knot begin to grow smaller, and soon they were free.

Sideswipe swooped in after Sunstreaker climbed off the berth and kissed Shimmer passionately. “Want some eggs you won’t have to incubate?” he asked. “They’ll break down in a few hours and provide nutrients for the eggs you’re carrying.”

“Well, Rivet did say to keep doing what I’ve been doing…”

“So that’s a yes?”

“Yes, Sideswipe. That’s a yes.”

He gave a little whoop of happiness and settled himself between her legs. He pushed into her and she could feel him changing shape, lengthening and narrowing slightly. He anchored into her and kissed her as the first egg began its descent. Two more followed it and Sideswipe passed out after a spectacular overload. Shimmer followed him into an overload that reset her systems.

She and Sunstreaker chatted while waiting for Sideswipe to regain consciousness. She felt his ovipositor reconfiguring again and shivered. Sunny hauled his brother off of her and arranged him neatly on his front, then turned his attention back to Shimmer. He gently tapped her spike housing and said, “Open up.”

She complied eagerly, her spike springing to attention. He took her into his mouth, tongue teasing the head and transfluid slit. His lips slid down her length to the housing then back up. His teeth lightly grazed the metal skin of her spike on his way back down and she hissed in pleasure. A few more bobs of his head and he pulled off, licking his lips and moving up her frame. He kissed her, tongue twining with hers, and she tasted herself.

Sunstreaker settled himself over her hips, positioned to take her spike in. He lowered himself slowly, and she laid her hands on his hips, trying to encourage him to move faster. She tried to thrust into him, but the second she moved, he pulled away. When she lay still, he returned with a little smirk on his lips. He took her in deeper before she moved again, with the same results. They played this game a few times before Shimmer got frustrated and pulled on his hips.

“Please,” she begged.

He didn’t have to be asked twice.

He _moved_ , graceful as a nitrotiger. Primus but the mech was gorgeous in motion. Callipers fluttered around her spike as he rose and fell, rolling his hips with each movement and pulling a multitude of pleasured sounds from her vocaliser. He bit his lip, concentrating on the sensations in his valve.

She thrust up into him on his downstrokes and relished the spiralling of his callipers when they parted. It felt so good she knew she wouldn’t be able to last very long. She could feel the pressure building, rising to a peak that came closer with every movement. Closer and closer, until it burst over her in a rush of sensation and she spilled transfluid into her lover as his valve clenched tight around her.

Hands came down on either side of her head and Sunstreaker kissed her passionately, so thoroughly that she was left light-headed and giddy. For a moment she wished she was bonded to him instead of Prowl, then she caught herself and cut off that train of thought. It would never happen, and there was no use in wishing for the impossible. Prowl wasn’t a _bad_ bondmate, but he could be more caring. Since he’d gone back on duty he’d barely been in quarters, and then only to sleep.

She sighed into another kiss and Sunstreaker pulled back. “You okay?” he asked.

“Just wishing for things that will never happen.”

“Hmm.” He rolled to the side and sat on the edge of the berth. “Me too. Well, both of us, really.”

“Yeah?”

He nodded.

“Prowl would say there’s no point in wishing.”

“Well, there’s really not. But that’s never stopped anyone. Certainly not going to stop Sides.”

She laughed. “No, I’m sure it won’t.”


	14. Chapter 14

Her spark itched.

Ultra Magnus had taken over Shimmer’s education and was talking about some obscure point in the Autobot code. She was sure she should be paying attention, but it was hard with that itch.

Prowl had been keeping his end of the bond shut much more often in the last couple of weeks, and they hadn’t shared sparks in longer. She spent much of her time, when she wasn’t studying, with the twins, Hound, or Bluestreak.

Hound was an absolute sweetspark and she loved spending time with him. They usually sat cuddled on a sofa in the lounge watching and talking about various nature documentaries. He could tell her anything about the myriad wildlife that was growing rarer with each day. She liked to just listen to him talk.

She still maintained that Bluestreak was adorable even though the social coding no longer pulled her to him. They would play games together, and he instructed her in the finer points of shooting. Ironhide had made sure she knew how to disassemble, clean, reassemble, and shoot a blaster and projectile weapon before turning her over to the sniper after a week of them both begging him. Blue was much more fun and didn’t get in her face for missing a moving target.

Damn that itch! She caught herself scratching at her chestplates over her spark.

“Shimmer.”

“Aurora,” she corrected without thinking.

Ultra Magnus stared at her for a second before asking, “Is that your name?”

“Hmm? Did I say something?” she said, pulled from her thoughts.

“You corrected me on your name. Aurora.”

“Oh.” She thought for a moment. “It’s in my memories. I have dreams sometimes where someone calls that name. I don’t know if it’s mine, though.”

“I doubt you would have corrected me if it wasn’t. I will contact Red Alert and have him look up the name at any rate. It may be in the datafiles Prowl managed to save from Praxus.” The comm call was quickly over and Magnus returned his attention to her lesson. “Shall we resume?”

*

That itch still plagued her. And it was getting worse.

Prowl should have been off shift an hour ago but still wasn’t back. She couldn’t tell where he was with the bond closed off and he wasn’t answering her comms. She’d been irritable the last couple of days between the itch in her spark and the fluttering contractions she’d been having. Rivet had said they weren’t anything to worry about, but when they started becoming more than just a slight ache to come back to medbay.

**::Shimmer, could you please come to my office?::** Red Alert commed her, then hung up.

She wasn’t sure where his office was, so she tried calling him back with no luck. What was with the officers and not picking up their comms? She commed Sideswipe to ask.

**::Oh, that’s the Security Room. It’s not really his office, that’s the door before Prowl’s on the other side, but it might as well be. He spends all his time there.::**

**::Okay, thanks.::** She headed in that direction.

**::No problem. Hey, are you coming over tonight?::**

**::I don’t think so. I’m not feeling that great and I’m not very good company right now.::**

His voice sharpened. **::What’s wrong?::**

**::My spark itches.::**

**::That’s the bond. How long has it been since you last merged?::**

She had to think about it. **::More than a month,::** she finally said.

**:: That’s way too long, especially for a new bond, and it’s why your spark is itching. The bond is trying to maintain itself, but it doesn’t have the energy. If I were you, I’d find Prowl and zap him silly as soon as you can.::**

**::Yeah, easier said than done, Sides::** she griped. **::He barely comes back to quarters anymore.::**

**::Yeah, that’s a problem. Anyway, I gotta go. See you later.::**

*

Red Alert wasn’t in the Security Room. She was glad Sideswipe had told her where his actual office was so she didn’t have to ask. The door opened to admit her and she was surprised to see Prowl there with the Security Director.

He looked up and ice blue optics met her own. The bond remained closed on his side and she scowled at him for it.

“There you are,” Red said. He thrust a datapad at her. “I believe this is you.”

The pad held a picture of a light green Praxian femme with golden optics that bore a remarkable resemblance to her in the face. The text below it gave the name Aurora and a brief rundown of family and occupation.

“All of these names are in my memory. My creators were Altair and Dusk, both Enforcers,” she read. “Do you have pictures of them?”

He took the pad back and fiddled with it. When he handed it to her again, it held a picture of two mechs with the green femme, all three smiling. “Altair and Dusk. Altair and Dusk. This one,” she pointed to the dark blue mech on the right. “This one was Dusk.”

“You are correct,” Prowl said. “They weren’t in my precinct, but I did know them.”

“I never met you.”

“No, you wouldn’t have. I didn’t know them well; we only worked one case together. Like I said, they weren’t in my precinct.”

“Hmm. Altair was better at the shooting range. Dusk liked music. He’d dance around the house to just about anything. I teased him about it sometimes. Thank you.” She smiled.

“You’re eligible for officer ranks when you join the Autobots, which is fortunate for the both of us,” Prowl said. “It will make attaining the appropriate security clearance easier.”

“Good. Does that mean you’ll stop blocking me all the time?”

“No. But I won’t have to block you as often.”

“Prowl, you block me even when we’re in the same room. You’re doing it right now.”

“I don’t think this is an appropriate time for that conversation,” Red said. “Certainly not the appropriate place. I’ll have my datapad back, thank you, and you can both be on your way.” He herded them out the door and closed it behind them.

*

“Sideswipe said we need to merge. Now. My spark is itching and it won’t stop.” She followed Prowl to his office and stuck a hand in the doorway when he tried to close the door on her. 

“I don’t have time.”

“You’re on restricted duty, how do you not have time?” she asked, voice raising a little. “You were supposed to be off shift an hour ago. And I’m tired of this damned itch.”

“Aurora-” he began, but she cut him off.

“No, Prowl. We need to merge and we need to do it now. I’m not letting this go. Sideswipe said the bond is trying to maintain itself, but it doesn’t have the energy.”

“Sideswipe said,” he spat out the words like they tasted foul. “I’m tired of hearing what Sideswipe said.”

“And I’m tired of you ignoring me! Why do you think I spend so much time with Sideswipe and Sunstreaker? I _would_ spend time with you, but you’re always,’working’!”

“And how do think it’s going to be when you actually have to work as well?” he snapped.

“A lot better than it is right now,” she said softly. “Prowl, please will you just merge with me and then I’ll leave you alone.”

“Fine.” He let her in.

The door had barely closed before she was pushed up against it, Prowl kissing her desperately. He threw the bond wide open, and she felt all of his frustration at being kept on restricted duty in one swoop, along with the itching in his own spark. Armour parted and their sparks pressed together.

//I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to snap at you. I don’t deal with frustration well.//

//Obviously. You know you can talk to me, right?//

//I’d prefer not to burden you with my problems.//

//Like it or not, we’re bondmates. Nothing’s changing that now. Whatever you have to deal with, I do, too. It’s either that or we’re going to be fighting a lot.//

//I will try.//

//No, you’ll do. Or you won’t. Be easier for everyone if you do, though.//

//I’m sure.//

//I’m serious, Prowl. And I know how to keep secrets, so you don’t have to worry about anything getting out. You need to vent.//

//I am not accustomed to ‘venting’.//

//Pretty sure you are, you just don’t realise it. All I’m asking is that you talk to me. Stop recharging in your office. Help me with things Ultra Magnus can’t get through my head. Don’t work yourself to death.//

//I can’t guarantee I’ll be able to do as you ask. There may be times I am required to keep things secret, even from you.//

//I’m not going to insist you tell me everything. Just talk to me. If there’s a problem, let me know about it. You don’t have to go into detail if you don’t want to.//

//Very well.//

//Now, are we just going to merge, or are we going to have fun, too?//

His interface panel snapped open.


	15. Chapter 15

She woke with a gasp from where she lay half-sprawled over Prowl. Tatters of dreams evaporated from the far reaches of her mind like mist. What had woken her, she couldn’t say, but she was wide awake.

Prowl’s arm still held her. Memories of their lovemaking earlier, both in his office and in quarters, ran through her mind and she smiled as she watched him. He was terribly cute when he was asleep.

A tap at the door drew her attention.

She extricated herself carefully from Prowl’s grasp and checked her chronometer as she made her way to the door. “This had better be good,” she muttered and hit the trigger to open the door.

Smokescreen stood there, poised to knock again. “I was beginning to think you weren’t going to answer,” he said.

She stepped out into the corridor and let the door close behind her so the light wouldn’t disturb Prowl. “You woke me up,” she accused.

“Guilty. Were you ever going to tell me that you’d bonded with Prowl?”

She sighed sadly. “Yes, but I couldn’t find the words. And then I saw you with Ratchet and figured you already knew.”

“He’d said something to that effect, but I was still hoping to hear it from you. He’s very put out at you both.”

“You don’t say. I never would have guessed that from the way he yelled at us.”

“To be honest, you deserved what you got. You made a promise to me and Prowl made a promise to Ratchet. You both broke those promises.”

“Did you wake me up just to get on my case about this?”

“Kind of. I also wanted to see you. To see if what I felt was just the social coding. And it was. Blue’s still smitten with you, though.”

She wilted. “I know. I feel awful about it, too. He’s a good mech.”

“He’s the best of us. The best of Praxus. Wasn’t all that long ago that I’d have sworn that was you.”

“I’m sorry. We didn’t mean to bond.”

“Sure could have fooled me. I saw how he looked at you, Shimmer. Pretty sure he thought he could have you and Ratchet both. I’m not stupid, no matter what he thinks.”

“I know you’re not, Smokescreen. And _he_ knows you’re not, as well. He recommended Prime consult with you since he wouldn’t be able to take on his normal duties.”

His optics flashed and his doorwings flicked in surprise. “Huh. I thought Prime just picked one of us at random. Whoever happened to be first in his line of sight or something. Prowl hates me.”

“Clearly not. He may not _like_ you, but I’m pretty sure he doesn’t hate you.”

“Whether he does or not right now, he’s going to for being the messenger. Let him know that Ratchet’s done with him, since I have you here.”

“Oh, no. We’re not playing this game. If Ratchet wants Prowl to know they’re done, he can tell him himself. I am not playing messenger for him. Or you can tell him yourself. I’m not indulging this youngling-like behaviour. We’re all adults.”

“If you listen to Ratchet, the whole army is full of sparklings.”

“And I’m sure he counts himself as the only adult tasked with keeping them all in line.” She shook her head. “If only he’d act like one. And you. I’m sorry I broke my promise, and I don’t expect you to forgive me, but this third degree is ridiculous. I think it’s time you leave. I need a walk.”

*

Her footsteps took her in random patterns. First to the lounge, where there were few mechs present, and none that she knew, then outside the twins’ quarters. It was late enough, though, that she didn’t want to disturb them, even though she would like to vent to them. Hound was out; he was off on a mission, and Bluestreak was supposed to be recharging, so no luck there.

She eventually found herself outside of Ratchet’s quarters beside the medbay. She pressed the call button, then wished she could take it back as she didn’t know what she was going to say if he answered.

The door whisked aside and she stood face to chest with the Autobot CMO. “What do you want?” he asked belligerently. She could smell the high grade on him.

“We need to talk. Are you going to let me in, or are we going to do this here in the hall?”

Ratchet retreated into his quarters. Shimmer followed. “You know,” she stared around the room, noting the many empty high grade containers littering nearly every surface, “this is hardly a healthy coping mechanism. Anyway. I had a visit from your new suitor. He tried to tell me to let Prowl know you’re done with him. Not going to happen. If you want him to know that, you’re going to have to grow up enough to tell him yourself. I’m not your messenger.”

Ratchet fell gracelessly into the nearest chair. “Don’t _want_ to be done with Prowl, but he lied. Said he’d never cheat on me, and then he does. With _you_. Would’ve been okay with it if he’d talked to me about it before, but he didn’t. Just showed up with you in tow and says you’ve bonded.”

“I know, Ratchet. And for that I truly am sorry. Prowl is, too, though he has a harder time admitting it.”

“Always did.” He picked up an empty glass and stared into its depths, then sighed and put it back down.

“Here, let’s get your quarters straightened up, shall we? I’m no doctor, but I’d recommend cutting back on the high grade.” She gathered several containers into her arms and looked around for the wastebin.

“Why are you doing this?”

“Because I like you and I don’t like seeing you like this. Are you going to help or not?”

He levered himself out of his chair and gathered his own armful of rubbish. He wobbled over to the wastebin and tossed the rubbish in. Shimmer followed his example and soon enough they had the worst of the room cleaned up.

“I don’t have a suitor, by the way,” he said as they sat in silence for a while. “Smokey’d like to think he is, but he’s not. I’m not ready for another relationship this soon, especially since I still hope Prowl will come around.”

“If he apologised again, would you consider taking him back?”

“I’ve thought about it a lot. It would take a while for me to trust him again, and then there’s you to consider. You know what we are and don’t seem offended or disgusted by it -”

“Pfft, no.”

“- so that’s a point in your favour. You know I’m pissed, and yet you still try to help, so that’s another point. You seem to genuinely care about Prowl, and that’s another huge point for you. So I guess I’m on the losing side. We all need to talk whenever you two have time.”

“No Smokescreen?”

“No Smokescreen. It’s been great venting to him, but he’s not what I’m looking for in a mate. Not the least of which is that he’s not Gestarth. Prowl doesn’t like him, either. Something to do with a run-in before the war while Prowl was still an Enforcer in Praxus.”

“Oh! I know my name now,” she said. “It’s Aurora. My sire was Dusk and my carrier was Altair.”

“Good for you, kid. I heard you’re going to try for officer ranks when you join the Autobots.”

“Yep. I’m hoping to get a high security clearance so Prowl can resume his normal work.”

“You going to go with your given name, or are you going to stick with Shimmer?”

She bit her lip. “I don’t know. I like my given name, but everybody knows me as Shimmer now.”

“You know people will get used to whatever you call yourself. You wouldn’t be the first to change your designation. Certainly won’t be the last.”

“I’ll have to think about it.”

“For what it’s worth, I really like the name Aurora.”

“All right. Time for bed for you. Can you make it to berth yourself, or am I going to have to help?”

“Can do it myself.”

“Well, I’ll follow you just to make sure, then I’ll leave you alone.”

“Not for too long, right? Bring Prowl around and we’ll talk.” He flopped onto the berth and almost immediately fell into recharge.

Shimmer pulled the blanket up around his shoulders, then retreated from the medic’s quarters. She went over to medbay and had the minibot medic Jumpstart check on the contractions she kept having. He, like Rivet, told her that once they started in earnest, she’d know and to return when that happened.

*

She returned to her quarters. Prowl was just waking and reached for her when she crawled back into berth. He laid his head over her spark and she held him close, stroking his chevron. He sighed and relaxed into the touches, letting his contentment roll through the bond.

“I talked to Ratchet,” she said quietly. He stiffened. “Smokescreen tried to get me to tell you that Ratchet was done with you. I told him to frag himself, though not in so many words. Then I went for a walk and my feet took me down to Ratchet’s. He’s hit the high grade hard, Prowl.”

“He always does when he’s stressed. Very few of us have what you would call ‘healthy’ coping mechanisms. I bury myself in my work, as you’ve found out. Jazz and Blaster throw wild parties. Sideswipe and Sunstreaker fight. Ratchet retreats into high grade. Optimus is the worst of us all. He lets his guilt over the war consume him.”

She hummed thoughtfully. “Anyway, Ratchet said we need to talk whenever we all have opportunity. Sounded like the sooner the better, the way he was talking. But not tonight,” she quickly amended when Prowl began to get up. “He’s out for now. Pit, he was out before I left his quarters.”

Prowl’s spark clenched and she felt it. “He’s also likely buried himself in work and hasn’t been sleeping well. We’re very much alike in that regard, though I don’t get into the high grade.”

“Do you not drink?”

“No. I don’t. A fact that consternates Ratchet to no end. He ribs me about it often. Or he did.”

“Do you mind if I ask why you don’t drink high grade?”

“I don’t like the loss of control. I am very much a lightweight, and I used to do things I would regret when I was told what I’d done, as I couldn’t remember for myself. I decided it was better if I simply refrained than potentially get into major trouble that I wouldn’t remember getting into.”

“Makes sense. It can be nice to lose control sometimes, though, especially in the safety of your own quarters and with someone who understands and cares about you.”

“I suppose you do have a point, but I don’t need high grade to hand over control of myself to a lover.”

She looked confused.

“Domination and submission,” he clarified. “I have no qualms submitting to a lover who has proved themselves to be trustworthy. It is… liberating.”

“You’re a submissive?”

“Is is really so surprising? I must have absolute control over nearly every aspect of my life daily. Giving up that control, even for a short time, is relaxing. I don’t have to think, just do.”

She chewed her lip. “Would you… would you maybe do that with me?”

“In time, perhaps. I’m still getting to know you, and I’m not in the habit of handing over the reins to someone I don’t know well.”

“You make an awful lot of sense,” she mock complained. “Cut that out.”

He smiled. “Unfortunately, I cannot. It would grow right back.”

She gaped. “You just made a joke.” She laughed.

“I’m not without humour, which you will know if you get to know me. My humour tends to be very dry, though, and not everyone gets it. At any rate, I am still tired and would like to get some more sleep.”

“Sleep sounds excellent.” She pillowed her head on his shoulder and laid a hand over his spark.

They were both winding back down into sleep when a thought crossed her mind. “Prowl?” she asked muzzily.

He grunted.

“‘M glad we bonded. This is nice.”

He hummed in response. A wave of contentment flooded the bond, and then they both fell asleep.


	16. Chapter 16

Ratchet was definitely uncomfortable.

To be fair, Shimmer - no, he corrected himself, _Aurora_ \- and Prowl were no better off. Both sets of doorwings were set at a contrite angle, though Prowl’s were more distinctly more apologetic and bereft. Neither would look directly at him except in glances, and they seemed to be leaning heavily on each other through their bond.

He was still angry, and it was the kind of angry that burned and festered inside until it was released. He still wasn’t sure why he’d agreed to talk to them. He had no idea what to say. He still wasn’t sure he could forgive Prowl for what he’d done. Shimmer - Aurora - was less a factor in that, but she was still culpable. At least she hadn’t made any promises.

She sat picking at a seam in her arm. It was beginning to separate from the force she was using. Ratchet moved over and put his hand on hers and said, “Stop that. You’re going to injure yourself.”

She subsided with a quiet, “Sorry.”

Prowl cleared his throat and began. “Ratchet, I’m so sorry. I take full responsibility for bonding with Aurora, since I was the one who asked for her spark.”

“It’s not just that, Prowl. You broke your promise. You always looked, but never touched, and I was content with that. Then _she_ comes into the picture and you can’t stop thinking about her, can’t help yourself when you’re not mentally balanced and wind up fragging her and then bonding! Can you blame me for being angry with you?”

“No,” he said meekly. “You have every right to cut me out of your life. I thought you had, to be honest. And it hurt, but I know that I can never apologise enough to make up for my transgression, though I wish I could. You were my _mate_ , and nothing would stand between us if you still wanted me.”

“And what about your bondmate? What role would she have on the off chance I’d take you back?”

“I would hope to have a role in both of your lives,” she said. “I would like to get to know you as a mech and not as a doctor.” She rubbed over her protruding abdomen seemingly absently. “Maybe, eventually, we could be lovers? But I would try to fit in in whatever way I was allowed, even if it meant leaving you alone. I could keep to my quarters and stay there so I wouldn’t bother you. I didn’t mean to mess up your relationship. I just wasn’t thinking. All I knew was I wanted Prowl very much at that moment.”

“You’d be content to take a concubine role?”

“Maybe not content, but I would do it. I would just need the bond strengthened every so often, and I would leave the two of you alone. But if it comes to that, don’t expect me to go without interfacing. I will seek it out, and not necessarily with the same mechs. I’ve already got a steady thing going with the twins. It wouldn’t be a stretch to become lovers with Bluestreak, either.”

“At least Bluestreak would treat you right. I’m still not sure about the twins.”

“They’ve never been anything but wonderful to me, except that one time Sunstreaker pushed me. And he apologised.” She grinned lopsidedly, clearly remembering the apology.

“Enough of that, you. Prowl, what are your thoughts?”

He was silent for a moment, readying himself. “I would like for us to be a family unit. However, if you do take me back and cannot reconcile with Aurora, I would be torn. I love you very much, Ratchet, but I’m coming to care for her as well. I could not in good conscience cut her out of my life except to strengthen the bond.”

“And the thing she has with the twins?”

“Is her own. It doesn’t bother me except when I think about it, and it’s good that she has friends. And she always comes back to me in the end.”

She grunted, trying to keep it quiet. Both her arms were wrapped around her belly and she wore an expression of mild pain. When she realised that both mechs were looking at her, she said, “Contractions. Nothing to worry about.”

“Like slag they’re nothing to worry about. If they’re causing you pain, they’re enough to push the eggs out. Medbay, now.”

Each mech grabbed an arm and pulled her upright, or at least as upright as she was going to get. She was bent over, grasping at her abdomen.

“Keep your panel closed until I tell you to open it. We don’t want any eggs falling and breaking while we get you situated. Prowl, comm the twins. Tell them to report to medbay. Come on, Aurora, let’s go.”

*

It took a while before she made it into medbay. Rivet gestured to them from a corner of the medbay and they made their way over. Soft and warm blankets were twisted into a nest on the ground. They had her sit in the nest and rest her weight on her arms behind her.

Prowl was bustled off by the minibot medic Jumpstart. She didn’t know where he went, because at that moment, her panel popped without direction and the first egg was sliding out of her. She heard the medics talking, but couldn’t focus on what they were saying because she was pushing and the next egg slid out. There was barely any time to catch her breath between pushes.

“You’re doing great.” She didn’t know who’d said it, but she grasped onto the words. Another push, another egg, and then the twins were there. Red and yellow filled her vision as they embraced her. A hand massaged her belly, pushing the eggs downward. They whispered encouraging things to her as she pushed, each egg easing out of her and plopping gently into the nest.

Finally it was done and the eighth and final egg dropped. The contractions tapered off and she suddenly felt very lethargic. Her arms gave out on her and the only thing that kept her from falling was the twins’ arms. They very carefully picked her up and took her from the nest. Ratchet directed them to lay her on a berth close to the nest. Hands cleaned her up and hands rubbed her arms and helm. She was just on the verge of sleep, where tempting darkness called to her and she wanted to surrender herself to it. But she was also concerned about the eggs, and so she fought to stay conscious.

She couldn’t get any of her limbs to respond, so great was the relaxation she was in, and her vocaliser wouldn’t do anything more than spit staticky little moans, so she couldn’t ask about the eggs. But after a while, Rivet came back and told the twins that the eggs would be hatching in a couple of hours and they looked perfect. She felt their joy and would have joined them, but the darkness took her in that instant and she knew nothing more for a while.

*

Prowl stood by Aurora’s berth, his hand on her shoulder. Her field and spark were relaxed, which was a balm to his own spark. She’d slept through the hatching of the sparklings, who were currently swarming over the twins, chittering and chirping happily. Each had been weighed and measured, scanned and examined. They were the biggest Gestarth sparklings to have ever been born from such a large clutch. All had sensory panels and a couple had tiny chevrons on Praxian helms.

They were adorable, and the way Sideswipe and Sunstreaker handled them told Prowl that they’d had at least one clutch before. They were careful, but not in the manner that most new parents were: as though their sparklings were made of spun glass and had to be handled very delicately.

The twins were tossing their squealing sparklings into the air and catching them one by one. Once set back down, the sparkling would run around its siblings excitedly before queueing back up to be tossed again. Prowl smiled indulgently. Sideswipe caught it and elbowed his brother, who smiled back.

Time to set up a daycare system. Of course, it would be made up of volunteers, and of those, only the mechs the twins vetted would be allowed to watch the sparklings. Bluestreak would volunteer, of course. Ironhide would grump until he actually came into contact with the sparklings, then he’d go into grand-sire mode and spoil them rotten. If Ratchet had the time, he would volunteer; he loved sparklings, Gestarth or not, it didn’t matter to him.

Hound might volunteer. Mirage wouldn’t. Jazz was too busy. Optimus would love to, guaranteed, but the mech was also too busy. He might drop in on occasion though, schedule be damned. He had a tendency to go wandering sometimes when he was supposed to be working.

Cliffjumper, Gears, and Huffer might volunteer, but likely wouldn’t be accepted by the twins. Too much enmity there. No chance Red Alert would, though his best friend Inferno might, and probably drag Red in, too.

All in all, a decent potential pool of caretakers to draw from. He himself might try to help out, and he was sure Shim- Aurora would also. The two almost pure Praxians had to have been influenced by his transfluid, so they were in part his responsibility. Truth be told, probably all of them had been influenced by him, since they all had sensory panels. It was unlikely that even with a Praxian carrier, they would all have that characteristic. So he did have something of a responsibility to them, even if the twins would deny it.

He checked the scheduling programme and made some minor changes. The twins had already had the next two days off, but he gave them the rest of the week. When they went back on duty, they would have the same shifts, so they could be together with their family as much as possible.

Aurora’s mind stirred, beginning to wake. She did so slowly, every sector booting lazily, and she moved into a strut-creaking stretch, then winced and curled back up.

“Welcome back,” Prowl said warmly.

“Ow,” she complained, rubbing her abdomen. “How long was I out?”

“A few hours. You missed the hatching. Sideswipe and Sunstreaker are playing with the sparklings now.” He waved Rivet over.

“Congratulations, you had eight healthy sparklings,” the medic said. “You’re fine, physically, but you’ll probably be sore for a few days as your frame reconfigures, so be careful what you do and how you do it. You can sit up if you want.”

She did, very carefully to avoid pulling anything in her abdomen. She looked around, hearing shrieks and giggles of happy sparklings and found the twins in the nest playing with the little ones. “They’re Praxian,” she murmured, watching them.

“Two of them are nearly full Praxian,” Rivet said. “The rest have the sensory panels, but not much else. They’re a good mix between you and the twins. You’re released from medbay, by the way, effective now. If you have any problems, though, don’t hesitate to come back and we’ll get ya sorted out.”

“Thank you,” she said, full of emotion. Prowl felt her desire to hold one of the sparklings like it was his own and his hands felt so empty, begging to be filled.

She slid off the berth and walked over to the nest and Prowl followed. The sparklings hid behind the twins at their approach, but quickly came back out as they recognised her field. A couple climbed the sides of the nest to get to her and she picked them up, a wide smile on her face.

At that moment, Prowl wanted nothing more than a clutch of his own to play with and dote on. His hands itched to hold a sparkling. His desire made it across the bond and Aurora smiled and offered him one of the sparklings she held.

He took it carefully, afraid it wouldn’t like being held by a stranger. He and the sparkling looked at each other for a long moment, then it yawned and curled up on his chest. He thought his spark was going to burst. It felt so _right_ to hold the sparkling. He couldn’t imagine a better feeling.

No, actually, he could. It would be better if Ratchet were here and they were holding their own sparklings.

He pushed the suddenly melancholy thought away and focussed on the sparkling in his arms.


	17. Chapter 17

With the emergence of the sparklings, Aurora found herself joining the Autobots and going through basic training. She had tests to take and courses to run through. Gunnery practice with Bluestreak and hand to hand combat training with Jazz. She came back to quarters every night exhausted and sore. She managed to drink a cube of energon, kissed Prowl goodnight, and fell onto the bed and almost immediately sank into sleep.

She barely had time to see the sparklings, and every time she did see them, she swore they were bigger. All eight would swarm her as soon as she walked into the twins’ quarters, chattering about their day or just making happy chirps and chirrs. She would pick up one or two at random and sit down, just cuddling them close. They learned to tolerate this behaviour quickly and began looking forward to cuddle time.

When basic training was finished, she had advanced training to get through. She settled on security as her area of expertise, though she still studied strategy and tactics with Prowl on her off hours. She trained with Red Alert, who was very exacting. They would go through lessons over and over until she had the procedures perfect. Any time he went out on a call for a security-related reason, she went with him to observe. He quizzed her afterward on what she would have done differently and why.

The first call she went out on by herself was to break up a brawl in the lounge. Neither combatant took her very seriously until she inserted herself between them and smacked one between her doorwings and took the other’s wrist and twisted until he was on his knees. She marched them both down to the brig for a cooling-off period and wrote out her report before returning to the Security office and Red Alert.

She settled into a routine: wake with her alarm, morning energon with Prowl, work, then time with the twins and sparklings, then evening energon with Prowl and sometimes Ratchet, too. He seemed to be giving Prowl a chance to redeem himself, which was progress in her book.

Nights were for pleasure.

She moaned as Prowl slid into her. They had this dance down to a fine art by now. He would drive her to heights unimagined - with his tongue, with his spike, with his valve - until she toppled from the knife’s edge she rode, then she would do the same to him. There wasn’t a surface in the room they hadn’t interfaced on or against.

He kissed her, long and sensuously, pulling her to him, rocking his hips into her. Their sparks intertwined, enmeshing them in their bond until they didn’t know where one ended and the other began. Her pleasure was his and his was hers and it all felt so perfect…

*

She woke before her alarm. Prowl lay sleeping beside her, facing her. Her spark fluttered as she watched him, and she smiled as she ran a gentle hand over his helm and jawline. He murmured something unintelligible and followed her finger as she ran it over his bottom lip. She giggled.

What had woken her? There was no tapping at the door, and the only sounds were the usual quiet background noise. She felt no anxiety or unease, just a calm contentment, echoed by Prowl as he slept.

She gave up trying to figure out what it was and settled back down and cuddled into Prowl. His arm looped around her waist and pulled her closer and he gave her a less than half-conscious kiss on her chevron. She smiled and let herself be pulled back into sleep.

*

Her first security clearance test was fast approaching and she spent every waking moment studying everything she thought might help. Red Alert didn’t exactly approve of her studying while at work, but he only commented once and it was to make sure she didn’t shirk her duties. She promised she wouldn’t and returned her attention to the monitors she was in charge of watching. One flickered briefly and she almost ignored it, but it was near a sensitive area of the base and Red had made sure that everything in certain areas was to be reported and investigated.

She called Red over and showed him the flicker. He insisted it had to be looked into, as expected. Being the low-ranking officer, she was sent out with a backup team to call on just in case it turned out to be something important.

She checked out a blaster at the armoury and approached the area. There had been nothing on the monitors since the flicker except empty space. She informed Red Alert that she should be on the monitors then, and pulled her blaster when he informed her that she wasn’t.

She scanned the area, immediately falling into a ready stance. Nothing blipped her scanners and she started looking for things out of place. All of the crates were stacked neatly with no space between or behind them for anyone to hide in. Everything looked perfectly normal until she looked closer at the ventilation screen. The top two bolts _looked_ secure, but the bottom two were missing.

**::Potential intruder in the ventilation system,::** she reported to Red. **::Shall I pursue?::**

There was a pause. **::Affirmative. Use caution. I’m setting up security teams at ventilation access points.::**

She pulled the vent cover off. **::As ordered, sir. I’m entering the vents now.::** It was something of a tight fit with her doorwings, but she didn’t want to be caught off guard because she had them tucked away.

She crawled through the vents, making as little noise as she was able, stopping at the first intersection to try to determine which way an intruder would go. She pulled up a map of the base and marked the data hubs, then which of them were in the more out-of-the-way areas. Her wings fanned out to gather any data they could about air pressure changes and vibration. She really didn’t want anything or anyone sneaking up on her if she could avoid it. The most remote of the data hubs wasn’t too far away, so she set herself and headed that direction.

She could see the vent access and hear the security team outside of it. A team of three, it felt like to her wings, but she could only hear two voices. She private-commed Red Alert. **::How many are in the security team outside vent access E-23?::**

**::Two, why?::**

She settled herself in the intersection and pretended to be busy with something. **::Because I think I’ve found the intruder, but I can’t see him. I’ve got him blocked between the vent opening and the intersection, though, so if he moves, I can get him. I could probably shoot him now with fairly good accuracy if you want.::**

**::No, that won’t be necessary.::** He switched to a three-way comm. **::Mirage, stand down. You’ve been discovered.::**

The air in front of her shimmered and she found herself face to face with the former noble. He smiled lopsidedly and held up his hands.

Her wings picked up vibrations further down the ventilation shaft. **::Red, was there anyone besides Mirage deployed?::**

**::You know I can’t tell you that, Aurora.::**

**::Fine,::** she huffed. “Mirage, out the vent. I can’t leave you here,” she ordered. He dipped his head and obeyed. She pulled the map back up and noted no more data hubs in the direction she felt the vibrations from until the power supply room. She scrambled for it, tucking her wings in close so she could move faster. It cut her perception down, but if the intruder got to the power supply room, they could do all sorts of damage.

She reported her position and destination as she moved. As she neared, she extended her wings so she could get a better read of the situation. There was movement up ahead just out of her sight and she aimed her blaster pistol at the source. “Hold! Hands in the air!” she called.

A shadow turned to face her and two red optics bored into her. Her spark skipped a beat and she felt Prowl’s questioning probe. She ignored it and ordered the shadow to identify itself. When it just laughed at her, she aimed and fired exactly as she’d been taught. The mech made a surprised sound and slumped against the side of the vent shaft.

She very cautiously approached, blaster still aimed. According to her scans, the mech was offline and as she got closer, she saw that he was bleeding profusely from a wound just below his spark.

**::Medical and Security teams to the power supply room!::** she bellowed over the comm. **::Decepticon intruder severely wounded.::** She had to lean over him to get the vent open, then very carefully half-pushed, half-pulled him out of the duct. The light spilled over him and she fell on her aft, horrified. **::Cancel Security team! Med team, it’s Jazz! I shot Jazz! Primus, Ratchet, what do I do!?::**

**::Calm down. We’re on our way. Describe the wound to me.::**

She reached for Prowl’s calm and began to describe the wound. Prowl buoyed her sinking spark as she performed the first aid she knew how to do and then did everything Ratchet told her to. Finally she was being pulled out of the way and Ratchet was there taking over. Red Alert pulled her to her feet and she clung to him to keep from screaming and crying.

Ratchet’s team quickly got Jazz stabilised and onto a gurney. They took off for medbay without a word.

“Can you make it back to my office without breaking down?” Red Alert asked.

She blinked rapidly and reached for Prowl again. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly, then pulled away from Red and wiped the cleansing fluid from her optics. She nodded, not trusting herself to do more.

He led the way. Aurora followed, doorwings held low. It was nearly shift change and there were plenty of mechs in the halls to see her march to her doom. She gripped onto Prowl’s spark even harder.

It struck her as she walked into Red Alert’s office that he hadn’t taken the blaster away from her. She still held it in her grip. She held it out to him, but he ignored it and motioned for her to sit.

“Tell me what happened, from the time you left this office,” he said, steepling his fingers and leaning forward on his elbows.

“I, ah, I checked this blaster out from the armoury, then made my way down to the area where the camera glitch occurred. I reported in. When you told me that I wasn’t on the cameras, I knew something was up and checked the area. Nothing looked amiss until I looked closer at the vent cover. I reported that and you gave me the go-ahead to search the vents. I figured the first thing any intruder would want was information, so I mapped out all the data hubs and eliminated the most trafficked areas.” She breathed deeply and continued. “I went to the most remote data hub and that’s where I found Mirage.”

“How did you find him?”

“Well, I heard the Security team talking outside the vent, which is why I commed you about their number. My wings were picking up three mechs, but I could only hear two. Then I felt vibrations from down the vent shaft, and that’s when I asked you if there was more than just Mirage. I ordered him out of the vent and figured the only thing in that direction of interest was the power supply for the base. I swear I didn’t know it was Jazz! I’d never have shot him if I did.”

“That is neither here nor there. You headed for the power supply…”

“I did. I slowed down as I got closer and used my wings to sense my surroundings. Just outside my visual range there was a mech doing something, I don’t know what. I told him to put his hands up. He turned around and I saw red optics and I almost panicked. I thought he was a Decepticon. I told him to identify himself and all he did was laugh. I thought he was moving toward me and I shot him. I shot him and it turned out to be Jazz and oh my Primus, what’s going to happen to me now?”

“Finish your story. You shot the intruder. What then?”

“I… I scanned him and he read offline, so I approached really carefully. Didn’t want to be taken in by a ruse just in case. I saw the wound under his spark and he was bleeding badly. Called for Medical and Security, then got both of us out of the vents. And then I saw it was Jazz and cancelled the Security team and started first aid on him and did everything Ratchet told me to do. And then Ratchet was there, and you were there, and Primus is he going to be all right?”

“Ratchet tells me it was a clean shot and an easy repair and that Jazz will be fine in a couple of days,” Optimus’ voice said from behind her. “You did well.” His hand rested on her shoulder. “You did exactly as you should have. Jazz always plays harder than he needs to, and the fact he got shot is on him. His orders were to stand down once confronted, _if_ it came to that. Not everyone would have picked up that there was more than one intruder.”

“Sir,” Red Alert said. “We’ve run this scenario a hundred times for Security officers and not once has anyone picked up the second intruder.”

“We’ve also never had a Praxian Security officer. I think she’ll do well in the job.” The giant blue hand patted her shoulder, then withdrew. “You’ve been debriefed, now go check in with your mate. He’s been pestering me since before you put the call in to medical.” Optimus smiled at her.

Red Alert said, “Keep the pistol with you; it’s been assigned to you. Just make sure the safety’s on unless you really need it. Now go on; you’ll get your score tomorrow.”


	18. Chapter 18

“I got my security clearance!” Aurora squealed at Prowl in their quarters at the end of the day. “It’s not as high as I need it, but I’m that much closer!”

Prowl smiled and embraced her. “Red Alert said you did very well. Far better than he was expecting. And that’s not a slight against you. He has very high standards and you exceeded expectations.”

She squealed again, then forced herself to calm down. She knew by now that Prowl was uncomfortable with overly emotional situations. “So, are we having dinner by ourselves or was Ratchet going to join us?”

“Ratchet is wrapped up in a surgery right now, so it will just be the two of us.”

“Okay. Shall I get the energon?”

“If you wish.”

“How do you want yours?”

“Sweet and spiced. You know the blend by now.”

“I figured, but just wanted to make sure.” She smiled. “I’ll be right back,” she said and slipped out the door headed to the officer’s lounge.

Once she had become an officer, her quarters had been changed. She now had access to a private washrack in quarters and the officer’s lounge nearby. Her berth padding was of better quality, which was a relief to her wings. Especially when she was on her back with Prowl.

It was further from the twins’ quarters, which was a bit frustrating, but she made do. She still went to see the sparklings every day after her shift and managed to play with them. They still insisted on cuddle time, and sometimes she was completely covered in sparklings when cuddle time came around.

She pulled two cubes of energon from the dispenser, then mixed in the additives that she and Prowl both liked into each cube. She waved to Mirage and Bumblebee, and nodded at Smokescreen when they passed each other on her way to the door. They hadn’t spoken since he’d shown up at her former quarters in the middle of the night, and that was just fine with Aurora. She was glad that she had bonded with Prowl instead of getting to know Smokescreen, since he seemed to be more and more of an aft each time she encountered him.

Why the social coding had been so strong toward him was a mystery she couldn’t fathom. But then, she didn’t think on it often, and when she did, it wasn’t for long. She’d just shrug and be glad for her current situation. Though it would be nice if they could truly reconcile with Ratchet.

The medic was giving them a chance, and Prowl was overjoyed by that fact. She was beginning to know him better, and knew he had a dry and sarcastic sense of humour, much like Prowl, although Prowl’s humour wasn’t quite as biting as Ratchet’s. Ratchet enjoyed a good highgrade and seemed to know his limit, though when he was depressed, that limit went right out the window. Aurora would drink with him, though Prowl would not.

Highgrade always made her more amorous than usual, and she would make risqué comments throughout the conversation until one or the other told her in no uncertain terms to stop. Then she would just curl up next to Prowl and listen, injecting a comment of her own where it seemed appropriate, though she was careful not to include any innuendo. Of course, it didn’t always turn out like that, and sometimes Ratchet seemed to enjoy her suggestive banter until he took his leave.

She banished those thoughts as she returned to her quarters, energon in hand. She smiled as she handed Prowl’s cube off to him and he returned it. They sat at the small table that could and sometimes did double as a desk and chatted over their energon.

After, they went over her strategy lessons and the work Prowl had assigned to her. She was doing well, though she didn’t quite have the grasp on strategy and tactics that she wanted to have. She was good with small groups, but larger-scale battles and such stymied her more often than not. She envied Prowl his battle computer.

Finally they ended the session and got ready for sleep. A quick run through the washrack for the both of them ended in a heated groping match and passionate kisses. Aurora guided Prowl to the berth and pushed him down on it, following closely.

She straddled his hips and leaned down to kiss him. Her tongue ran across his lips and he opened to her. Their tongues played together as they kissed, thrusting and gliding in imitation of the act that was to follow. She brought her hands into play, teasing out moans and gasps of pleasure. His hands rose to meet her body and soon she was writhing in the sensations he caused just by touching her.

Her panel retracted, baring her interface array, her spike fully pressurised. She rubbed against Prowl. “Mmn, want you so fragging bad.” Her spark fluttered.

Prowl resisted her for all of thirty seconds before his panel retracted, his own spike pressurised. She lined him up and slowly sank down on him before rising up again. The rhythm set up a rocking motion, and they both groaned at the feeling.

She could feel everything he felt with the bond wide open, and it was almost overwhelming along with her own feelings. The nodes in her valve shot sensation directly to her core and she felt the pleasure Prowl felt being inside her, the sensations of his spike rubbing those same nodes in her valve from his side. She’d never known that pleasure could be experienced like this, doubled like this.

She rose and fell over him over and over, each time trying to hit a different cluster of sensory nodes. She set the callipers in her valve to spinning around him, creating yet more pleasure for both of them. She felt him tense in precursor to overload, hand clamped on her hips, trying to pull her down on him, over his knot, but she was too small to stretch around it at that point.

She rolled her callipers up and down his spike in a milking motion, trying to get him to overload. It worked, and he shot his load up into her, setting off her own overload. She fell down chest to chest with him and their armour parted, sparks moving to the fore for a merge.

It was always so amazing to merge with Prowl. While he was reserved and seemingly almost cold on the exterior, his inner self was warm and welcoming, full of life and emotion. She could and often did get lost in this inner self, basking in him. He often did the same with her, and they could merge for hours this way.

This time, though, Prowl figuratively pulled away and studied her. Particularly her spark. //I think you need to go see Rivet. Or Ratchet, if he’ll see you. I think you’ve kindled.//

Surprise jolted through her. //I didn’t think your race could reproduce like that. And I have a ground.//

//It’s rare, but yes, we can. And apparently the ground doesn’t matter because the sparkling’s there.//

//Wonderful,// she sent. //How am I supposed to get your security clearance if I can’t stop kindling? First the twins’ eggs, which I agreed to, and now this?//

//You can terminate, if that’s what you want. Any of the medics can perform the procedure.//

//But that’s not what you want. I’m beginning to know you, Prowl. And I felt your want to have a sparkling when I first held the twins’ sparklings.//

//They’re as much yours as Sunstreaker and Sideswipe’s.//

//You’re avoiding the subject.//

//I do want a sparkling. But I’m not going to put you through the carry just so I can have one if you don’t want it, too.//

//Give me some time to think about it, then I’ll go see Rivet. I’ll let you know my decision before I go.//

//You really should go tomorrow and at least get the ground removed. It could impair the development of the newspark if you choose to keep it. The sooner it’s removed, the better.//

//And that will just let everyone know that I’m sparked up. Which I don’t want.//

//They’re medics, they’re not allowed to discuss patients’ issues. Doctor/patient confidentiality.//

//Ratchet will know, even if I go see Rivet. Because he’s CMO.//

Prowl was quiet.

//Just give me a few days to think and weigh everything.//

//All right.//

*

The medbay was quiet except for music coming from Jazz’s berth. There were no medics in immediate sight, so Aurora slipped in and over to Jazz.

“Hey,” she said.

“Hey there, sweetspark. How’s it going?”

“Okay, I guess. Training is hard. Strategy and tactics is harder.” She fidgeted. “I wanted to say I’m sorry for shooting you.”

“My fault, don’t worry ‘bout it none. Ya did what ya had to to keep the base safe. I’m proud of ya.” He smiled widely and his visor flashed in a wink. “I hear you did a great job. And I’ll tell ya what, ain’t one person training for Security ever found me until you.”

“Your optics are red?” she asked.

“Yeah. Freaks a lot of people out when they find out. Red’s a Decepticon optic colour, after all.”

She fidgeted some more, struggling with the words that wanted to be spoken. “Were you a Decepticon?”

“I was a long time ago. Got caught on a suicide mission and was fascinated by my jailor. Eventually decided the Autobots weren’t all that bad and wound up defecting. Worked my way up the ranks and here I am, third in command.”

“I’m still sorry I shot you.”

He reached out and tweaked a doorwing. She flicked it away in pain and he laughed his musical laugh. “There, now we’re even.”

She snorted. “Hardly.”

“Heya, Ratch!” Jazz said to the medic approaching.

Aurora moved to the other side of the medberth to give Ratchet room.

“How are you feeling, Jazz?”

“Not bad at all. ‘Rora here was keepin’ me company.”

“I saw. How are you doing?” he asked her.

“Well enough.”

“That means something’s wrong. Spill.”

“No.”

The lights flickered.

Both Ratchet and Jazz stiffened just before the lights flickered again and went out. Emergency lighting kicked in and bathed everything in yellow light. Aurora noticed movement in the vent in the wall behind Ratchet and then there was the bright burst of a laser bolt burning through both Ratchet and Jazz. She shouted for help and had her blaster pistol out in one smooth move, kicking the safety off and shooting into the vent where the blast had come from once, twice, three times until the shadow dropped. She was shouting into her comm to Security as she gently lay Ratchet out on the deck.

Medics came from their offices and ran to help Ratchet, who was wounded the worst. The laser blast had burned through his chest not far from his spark and was bleeding profusely. It reminded her of when she’d shot Jazz. They moved him to a berth and Rivet took over the surgery.

The third in command was shot on the side of his abdomen, hardly a mortal wound, but painful nonetheless. Calliper started working on him, the femme calm and focussed.

Aurora moved to the vent and opened it up. Inside was a black felinoid recordicon bleeding from a chest wound similar to Ratchet’s. She scooped him up and called for a medic. Jumpstart came over instantly and began giving orders to lay the recordicon on a berth and do this and that and the other thing. She followed each order, and soon was watching over the Decepticon as his wound was mended. She watched closely, interested, as Jumpstart worked, the minibot’s fingers moving deftly.

Eventually main power came back on. By that time, only Ratchet was still being worked on, and that was just peripheral repair work. Aurora continued to watch over the Decepticon even after Jumpstart put him in stasis. Red Alert informed her that a breach had happened and two recordicons, Rumble and Frenzy, had wreaked merry havoc on the power supply room. They managed to escape capture, though, and he was very happy that she’d caught the one in medbay.

Ravage, he’d informed her, was the designation of the unconscious Decepticon. They’d had trouble with Soundwave’s recordicons getting into the base through the vents, but had yet to figure out exactly _where_ they were getting in. She offered to do a sweep of the perimetre of the base just to see if she could find their entry point. Red Alert thanked her, but said they’d already swept the perimetre several times and still hadn’t found it.

The vents were a veritable maze that ran the entire length and breadth of the base, as well as running through every level. Tracking anyone through them would be nearly impossible unless they were still there and moving. That was the only reason she’d detected Jazz on her test; he’d been moving toward the power supply room, albeit slowly and carefully. Rumble and Frenzy were no doubt long gone, and so would their echoes.

A Security team came to move Ravage to the brig and she was freed to go give her report on the incident to Red Alert. Her spark fluttered and she staunchly ignored it; this was no time to go thinking about the sparkling. She had work to do.

A quick debriefing later and she was commed to return to medbay. Ratchet was awake and asking for her. She was a bit surprised by the request, but dutifully returned to medbay. Both Ratchet and Jazz were reclining in their berths while Rivet and Calliper checked their vitals and administered pain medication.

Ratchet was clearly woozy from the pain meds and sedatives, but he managed to speak in a fairly clear voice. “Wanna thank you for being there. Would have been a lot worse if you hadn’t been. I hear you got Ravage. Good job. And don’t tell me you were ‘just doing your job’. You saved my life and probably Jazz’s, too.”

“Yeah, shot twice in two days,” Jazz said loudly from his berth. “Not fun. Think I’ll pass on tomorrow.”

“Well, I _was_ doing my job. I’m Security. But I’m really glad I was on the right side of Jazz’s berth or he might’ve gotten all of us. It was plain luck I saw him moving in the vent before he shot you two and was able to shoot him.” Her doorwings bobbed. “I’m just glad you guys are all right.”

“Got a good team of medics here.” Ratchet clapped Rivet on the arm.

“I think that might be enough visiting for you, Ratchet. You’re getting emotional,” Rivet said with a laugh.

“Shoosh, you. I’m fine.”

“Listen to your doctor, Ratchet,” Calliper admonished playfully. “You’re not fine until he says you are.”

“You be shoosh, too. I don’t need the both of you ganging up on me.”

Aurora laughed. “You probably should listen, Ratchet.”

“Nope, not you, too. I don’t have to deal with this. Go away, all of you.”

Rivet and Calliper laughed but did walk off together, talking as they went.

Ratchet’s hand on her wrist stopped Aurora. “Really. Thank you. I owe you.”

“You don’t owe me anything. You saved me first.”

*

It was quiet outside the base. Night blanketed the sky with stars. Aurora moved away from the main entrance and the guards there so she could be alone. Only then did she allow herself to think of the newspark growing inside her.

She honestly didn’t mind the thought of having a sparkling, but it _would_ put a damper on her advancement in the ranks. She might even have to give up on it until the sparkling was older. Which meant no more raising her security clearance. Which meant Prowl would be stuck doing the work he was currently allowed to do. Jazz and Red Alert would have to continue to share the second in command’s workload…

She really probably ought to talk to a medic about this, and Prowl as well. Prowl first, really, since he was its sire and he already knew about it. Everything she’d thought about so far pointed to terminating. If she did, her life would go on as it had been. And having a sparkling in the middle of a war didn’t seem like the smartest thing in the world to her.

Of course, that hadn’t stopped the twins. And they had _eight_. They had sparkling-sitters and both still worked. It might not be the ideal situation, but they were certainly making the best of it.

She’d always been told that sparklings were a gift. Seeing the twins with theirs certainly made them seem like such.

She was so lost in her thoughts that she wasn’t paying attention to where she was going and bumped into someone. Before she could apologise, though, arms had wrapped around her, one hand covering her mouth so she couldn’t scream. She got off a comm burst to Red Alert and screamed for Prowl over their bond as she felt someone jack into the medical port on the back of her neck and hack into her mind. She fought as well as she was able, but the intruder was well-practiced and with a simple code rendered her unconscious.


	19. Chapter 19

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mind the tags. This and the next chapter are not going to be fun ones.

Prowl was nearly frantic as they searched the security tapes for Aurora. Red Alert was much calmer, going through the footage with a practiced optic. They found her walking around the perimetre of the base, within the walls but outside so she could see the stars. She was obviously not paying any attention to where she was going and was very much off her guard. Then she walked into range of a camera that should have shown her at the appropriate time stamp and didn’t. It might have been coincidence that the same camera showed one of the outside entrances to the ventilation system, but neither Red nor Prowl was of a mind to consider that, not after the breach they’d just had.

If her captor was who they thought he was, it was no wonder the camera was looped. And why he’d hung around. Probably waiting for his cassettes. Why Soundwave had taken Aurora and not just outright killed her was something of a mystery. Unless it was simply for a bargaining chip for Ravage, which it may well have been.

The only problem with it being Aurora who was taken was that when the Decepticons found out who she was bonded to, they might just go ahead and kill her to get rid of Prowl.

*

Aurora woke slowly, the code used to keep her under gradually erasing itself. She found herself in a small cell with energy bars at the opening and absolutely nothing else. She was laying on the ground in a foetal position where her captor had tossed her. She took inventory of herself before she attempted to move and discovered that her comm and her chronometre had been disabled.

She stretched out, her hands and feet touching the opposite walls of the cell. Her left doorwing pinged minor damage to her sensor net. Carefully, she sat up on the filthy floor, dirt and dust covering her left side in patches. There was dried energon on the walls, sprayed there when some other prisoner had been killed, probably by slitting their throat. There was the remains of a pool of it in the middle of the cell by a drain, dark and dry. It had been there for some time.

It was an intimidation tactic, she knew, but it was working. All of her time spent as a prisoner of the Decepticons came flooding back and she scrambled into a corner, her wings tucked down low on her back to protect them. She pulled her knees up to her chin and hid her face, optics closed. Her only form of detection now was her hearing, and she heard absolutely nothing but the buzz of the energy bars.

*

“Prisoner awake,” Soundwave reported. “Shall I interrogate?”

Megatron considered for a moment. He vaguely remembered this femme. “Send in Vortex. Tell him not to physically damage her, though. And that he only has an hour.” He smiled. The copter was still upset at losing his toy. Maybe this would assuage that anger somewhat. “After he’s done playing, you will interrogate her.”

Soundwave complied, calmly contacting the Combaticon and informing him of his assignment. Megatron noticed that Soundwave gave no indication of what he would find in the cell, just to report to it.

“Oh, and keep an optic on him, will you? He does have a tendency to get rough in his play sessions. If we want to get Ravage back in one piece, she’ll have to be in one piece as well.”

*

Vortex reported to the cell he was ordered to. There in the corner, all curled up, was the mech he was supposed to soften up for Soundwave. He looked Praxian from the chevron on the lowered helm, but not a Praxian he’d seen before. He shut down the energy bars and stepped inside the cell. It was a tight fit, but he managed anyway. It just meant there was less room for the prisoner to get around him and try to escape.

He grabbed an arm and pulled the mech to his feet. He turned his face up so he could get a look at this new Praxian and nearly dropped him in surprise. So, they’d recovered his femme for him. She was wearing the Autobot brand and was a different colour than she used to be, but it was still her. He smiled, teeth showing behind his mask, as she looked everywhere but at him. He could see the fear in her optics, could feel the abject terror in her field.

This was going to be fun.

*

She heard the mech approaching, and his footsteps stopped just outside her prison. She heard the buzz of the bars go silent and more footsteps into the cell. Her spark beat so hard it felt like it was going to explode. She was out of range to feel Prowl, but she pretended he was there with her anyway. She needed all of the help she could get in dealing with this interrogation.

A large hand grabbed her arm and hauled her upright, the other hand tipping her chin up almost like a lover would. She felt the surprise in his field when he saw her and realised that she recognised it. Her optics opened and she beheld her former captor. Terror struck and she almost struggled, but remembered just in time that that would result in a beating. She went compliant as she’d been conditioned to do.

“I’m glad that you’ve remembered your training,” he said. “I’ve missed you. I see you’ve been consorting with Autobots. I was afraid they’d completely retrained you, but it’s nice to see I was wrong.”

She didn’t say anything, just tried to look anywhere but at him.

“You know what I want, don’t you?” He let go of her and she stood still in front of him, her head lowered. “Well?” he asked impatiently.

She nodded and dropped to her knees. His panel opened and his spike pressurised immediately.

“Do it. I wanna feel your throat around me.”

Her tank twisted and she wanted to purge. She’d thought this was behind her. She waited a moment too long and his hand pushed her face into his array.

“I’m not going to play this game of yours,” he said. “You’re going to suck me off, and you’re going to do it right. Now.”

She kissed the base of his spike where it emerged from its housing. With each kiss up to the tip of his spike, she felt dirtier. She licked away the transfluid beading from the slit at the tip and she nearly purged right there. She opened her mouth and took him inside, lips stretching around his girth.

“Good. Keep going.”

She did. She bobbed on his spike, taking him in further each time until his spike prodded at her throat tubing. She had to concentrate on relaxing her throat as she moved. She gradually managed, and his spike moved further in until her nose was pressed up against his array. She swallowed around him several times, fighting the gag reflex and the need to purge. Her tongue rubbed him where it was able as she continued to bob on him.

She felt the pleasure in his field as he settled his hand on the back of her head, not pushing, but not letting her pull off, either. She continued swallowing back the energon threatening to come up.

“Keep doing that. And make a little noise. I always liked it when you screamed around me.”

She groaned. He grabbed her left doorwing hard and she yelped in pain.

“Come on, you can do better than that.” He twisted the doorwing and she screamed. “Yeah, just like that. A few more of those and I’ll be done with you.”

He twisted it again, and sparkles appeared before her optics as she screamed. She couldn’t keep up the rhythm and his hand started pushing her back onto him. She struggled to escape, not caring if it ended in a beating. She didn’t want his transfluid in her. She could feel him expanding in the seconds before his overload and she pushed away only to be pushed all the way back down on his spike and held there as he spilled his load down her throat.

He pulled her off of his spike and tossed her back into her corner. “That was nice. Can’t wait for next time.”

She purged as he left the cell and reignited the bars. Energon and transfluid splashed over her hands as she held herself above the floor. The fluids slowly oozed toward the drain, moving past her knees and feet. She heaved until nothing else came up, and then heaved some more. Once her frame couldn’t purge any more, she shakily crawled to the opposite corner and curled up on her side facing outward despite the pain in her left doorwing.

She watched the purged fluids flow slowly to the drain and wished desperately for a washrack. She felt filthy, and not because of the dirt and dust and fluids on her frame. She would deal with those gladly if she could only get rid of the internal filth, the remnants of transfluid that wouldn’t come out. The feeling of being used again. The mere sight of her tormentor had brought everything back, including her conditioning.

She reached for Prowl and got nothing in return. She really was all alone right now. Just like she used to be.

*

“No, I can’t feel her. I know she’s still alive, but I have no idea what they’re doing to her!” Prowl shouted.

Prime laid his hand on Prowl’s shoulder. “We will get her back. Jazz is already planning a mission. What worries me is that we haven’t received a ransom offer for her or Ravage yet.”

“Standard procedure is to interrogate prisoners, just like we’re doing with Ravage. Vortex and Soundwave are the primary interrogators for the Decepticons. Vortex was Aurora’s captor before, and Soundwave may be angry with her for shooting Ravage if he knows about it. Either way, she’s not in for a pleasant time.”

“No. We must assume she’s been compromised. Fortunately, she only has a low security clearance, so there’s not much she can divulge. Also, the fact that you cannot feel her is a point in our favour; she can’t get into your mind to discover anything you might know.”

“With all due respect, sir, _I_ am compromised. If they decide she’s not worth anything, they may well kill her and be done with her. If she dies, I’ll go with her.”

“You said Vortex was her former captor. He may decide to keep her again, which means she’ll still be alive.”

“At what cost? Prime, she’s sparked. We just found out, but how long until the Decepticons find out?”

Optimus pinched the bridge of his nose and prayed to Primus. “With luck, she will be safely back with us before they find out.”

“Then what is Jazz’s team still doing here!?” he asked, gesturing at the Special Ops mechs in the staging room.

“ _Prowl_ ,” Prime said, authority ringing in his voice. Mechs all around the command centre looked up at that tone. “Perhaps we had better move this conversation,” he said when he’d regained the mech’s attention.

Prowl seemed to remember where exactly they were and agreed. They were just at the door to the ready room when Blaster reported, “Incoming transmission! Decepticon signature.”

“On screen. Prowl, get a hold on yourself.”

“Prime,” Megatron greeted smugly. “It seems I have one of your soldiers as my guest…”


	20. Chapter 20

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Still nasty. Mind the tags.

She was taken from her cell to a brightly lit room and strapped to the table there. It was raised and then tilted forward until she was at a standing position. Then she was left to just hang there for an undetermined amount of time.

Her mind raced. What were they going to do to her this time? The last time she’d been in this position, she’d been in a heat cycle and her plating was sheared off piece by piece to expose protoform and keep her from overheating. There was a cart off to the side that was covered by a cloth so she couldn’t see what was on it. From the shapes under the cloth, though, it didn’t look like a good time.

She retreated inside herself as she was wont to do when she’d been shoved into her little box before, to that little space in her mind that nothing could get to. She reached again for Prowl, wishing he was there, wishing she was in his arms and not where she was. She would even settle for Smokescreen, because it would mean she wasn’t _there_.

But as long as she stayed in her little space, she’d be fine. Nothing could touch her. Nothing could harm her. She was wherever she wanted to be, and right now that was Prowl’s arms. It was so real she could feel his sparkpulse under her cheek. She looked up.

“I’m so happy you’re back,” he said, his smile stretching into his eyes.

She pulled back and patted him. “You’re real? You’re really here?”

“Yes. We sent in a rescue team and got you back. You’re safe.”

“Thank you! Oh Primus, thank you.”

“I need you to tell me what you went through,” he said.

“I don’t-I can’t… Please, I can’t.”

“I need you to tell me what you went through,” he repeated, holding her at arm’s length.

“My captor, from before… He’s here. He came to me and… please don’t make me relive it again.”

“Aurora.”

“He made me suck his spike until he overloaded, okay!? I feel horrible, like I need a shower, but inside.” She curled into him.

He shoved her away. “You’re disgusting. You actually let him do that to you?”

“I didn’t _let_ him!”

“You did it willingly. You dropped to your knees and sucked him off like some piece of shareware,” he accused.

“No! I-I didn’t! Prowl, you have to believe me!”

“I have to believe the facts, and I _saw_ you suck him off. Watched you. You were just waiting for him to come back into your life, weren’t you? I wasn’t what you wanted, is that it? You wanted him? All you had to do was ask.” He shoved her to her knees and released his spike. “Go on, do me just like you did him.”

“Prowl!” That was all she got out before he shoved himself into her mouth, moaning loudly. His hand held her on his spike as his hips moved, forward and back, roughly taking his pleasure of her.

//Prowl! Stop, please!//

No response. She couldn’t even feel him through the bond it was closed so tightly.

In and out his spike went between her lips. She could tell he was getting close.

In and out.

He sucked air in quickly and shoved her down on his spike hard. Transfluid spilled down her throat in hot, thick pulses. Tears overflowed her optics and ran down her cheeks as she reflexively swallowed.

He pulled away and stowed his equipment, then walked away without a backward glance.

She couldn’t call after him; her throat had tightened up. She sat there and stared at the place where he’d disappeared until her vision blurred from the tears. She didn’t know how long she’d sat there before she felt a field gently brush up against hers. She blinked several times to clear her optics and looked around. A few paces away was a blue and white mech with a red visor, just standing there. He wore no faction brand and his stance was open and non-threatening. His field brushed hers again, offering comfort.

She latched onto that offered comfort. The mech came closer and squatted next to her, turning her chin up to him and carefully wiping the tears away. When she didn’t protest, he gathered her to him and stood, just holding her. Fresh tears sprang to her optics and she buried her face in his neck.

He started walking, away from where Prowl had disappeared to and they wound up in a brightly lit room with comfortable furniture. The blue mech sat on a sofa and pulled her feet up on the cushion next to him, continuing to hold her. His free hand stroked her right doorwing along the top, the way Dusk used to when she was young and distressed.

“Whenever you are ready to talk, I will listen,” he said, a musical lilt to his voice.

She nodded into his neck. She wasn’t sure she’d be able to talk any time soon, but it was nice to know someone would be there to listen when she could. Even if she didn’t know him. But then, she hadn’t known the twins, either, and they turned out to be wonderful friends and lovers. She’d thought she’d known Prowl, but apparently not as well as she needed to.

His field was calm and reassuring, with no trace of impatience or irritation. He seemed to honestly be concerned about her mental state and calming her down. The wing petting was helping as was the subsonic rumble-purr he’d started in his chest. He was very careful to keep his hands to non-erotic areas of her frame as he held her, a fact she was appreciative of.

After a while she stopped crying, the tears slowly drying on her face. She laid her head on his shoulder and looked up at him. He had a long, straight nose and beautifully sculpted lips, though a little on the thin side, under that visor. He had a strong chin and a pale complexion and she thought he was rather handsome.

He looked down at her and smiled, and she thought she was going to melt. That smile was gorgeous. “What is your name?” he asked.

“Aurora,” she replied. “What’s yours?”

“Soundwave. What do you do for the Autobots?” he asked, touching the brand on her chest.

Something niggled at the back of her mind at his name.“I work Security. Mostly breaking up fights and monitor duty. I’m working toward a higher position, though.” She leaned back a little so she could see him better. “What do you do?”

“I’m in Communications. Or at least, I was until the war. I’ve tried to remain neutral, but it’s difficult. Neither side respects neutrality. They both attack Neutral camps.”

“That’s awful! The Autobots wouldn’t do that.” _Would they?_

“There is much you don’t know about the Autobots, being as new to them as you are.”

“How do you know I’m new?”

“Your brand has no scratches on it. Anyone who’s been out in the field would have at least minor scratches. Or perhaps you work behind the scenes? In the safety of a base? If so, you must have access to many projects.”

“Not really. I’m pretty low-level. And you’re right. I am new to the Autobots.”

“Prowl is your lover?” he asked.

“He was. After what he’s done, I don’t know what he is any more.” She nearly started crying again, but steeled herself.

“What he did to you is reprehensible. He shouldn’t be allowed to get away with it.”

“You- you saw?”

“I saw the end. I was too far away to intervene.”

She put her hands up to her face in shame.

He pulled them away gently one by one. “There is no need for shame. It was not your fault. Do you want to get even with him?”

“Yes?”

“Tell me what he’s been working on.”

“He doesn’t really talk about work. I know he’s been working on minor battle plans and troop movements, but I don’t know anything else.”

“Are you sure? Would you mind if I check? There may be things you don’t realise you know that I could pick up on.”

Her mind went on alert. “How would you do that? And why?”

“I am telepathic. It wouldn’t hurt at all, and I would only look in places you don’t block me from. As for the why, I have my own vendetta against Prowl and am looking for anything I can use against him.”

“What did he do to you?”

“He ordered the strike that destroyed my camp and killed my lover.”

“Oh. Wait. If you’re neutral, what are you doing in an Autobot base? Especially since you have such a distrust of them?”

“We’re not in an Autobot base. I brought you to my new camp. You were too distraught to notice the change in location.”

Something nagged at the back of her mind. The explanation didn’t sit quite right with her and she began to pull away from him. He let her go, a confused and disappointed expression on his face. She stood in front of him, wings high. “You’re lying to me about something,” she accused.

“Perhaps I am, but you don’t know what, if anything, I am lying about.”

“You’re lying about the location. Unless you can teleport, too, we didn’t walk far enough to make it out of the base, let alone to a Neutral camp, the closest of which is 100 klicks away. And that’s from the perimetre of Iacon itself, not just the Autobot base.”

“You’re observant for someone who was so distraught,” he said in his musical lilt. He stood, towering over her. “Is there anything else you’d like to accuse me of?”

His name finally registered in her mind. “You’re a Decepticon! This is a trick! Nothing was real, was it? Everything was a lie.”

“Not everything, but enough. You’re damaged goods now, assuming we let you go. Although I suspect Megatron will trade you for Ravage. You’re of no use, despite being Prowl’s lover. I expected more, to be honest. Prowl had to have chosen you for a reason.”

She refused to answer. She wasn’t going to give him any more ammunition to use against her. She was so relieved that the whole debacle with Prowl had just been a ruse to get her to open up to Soundwave. She didn’t know how much damage it had done to her psyche, but at least she knew it wasn’t real.

She fought her way back out of her mind and observed the Decepticon standing in front of her. He looked exactly the same as he had in her mind except with the addition of a lower face mask in addition to the visor and the sharp purple Decepticon brand on his chest.

She was still strapped to the table in the bright room. Her doorwings rattled angrily against the metal and she struggled against the restraints, teeth bared.

“Resistance: futile. Restraints: secure.” He spoke in almost a monotone in real life, none of that beautiful lilting voice present. “Interrogation: incomplete. Recommencing now.”

He hit her mind hard, threads of thought following paths in her brain. She started throwing out statistics and musical pieces and anything she could think of to thwart him while she scrambled to hide anything relating to Prowl or the work he or she was doing. She locked it away in a secure part of her mind, one that would need to be decrypted before the information could be accessed, then she hid that in another layer of encryption.

She continued her assault on him as he tried to move deeper into her mind, blocking him as well as she was able. He still made progress, though it was slowed. She locked away the fact that she was bonded to Prowl, and the fact that she had kindled. She locked away all the memories she could. He still made progress.

The only thing she could think of to maybe keep him out of her memories was to completely shut down her mind. Essentially put herself into stasis. Her frame would still run, but there would be no way to access her mind. The drawback to this is that it would take a very skilled medic to pull her back, _if_ they knew what she’d done. She didn’t know if she’d be traded back to the Autobots or not, and if she was, were any of their medics skilled enough to realise what she’d done and reverse it?

Soundwave was getting closer to the memories she’d locked away. He was concentrating harder, and she wasn’t slowing him down as much any more. She didn’t know a whole lot, but she didn’t want what she did know falling into enemy hands. So she shut her mind down.

Her frame went limp against the restraints, knees buckling.

*

**::Megatron, subject: useless. Shut down.::**

**::Get her back online.::**

**::Impossible. Our medics are not skilled enough.::**

There was no reply for a long moment, which Soundwave interpreted as Megatron throwing one of his temper tantrums. Then, **::Fine. We’ll trade her back for Ravage. Let the Autobots have their broken soldier.::**

**::As ordered.::**

He tilted the table back to its normal position and undid all of the restraints. He picked her up and threw her over his shoulder where she hung like a lead blanket. He exited the interrogation room and returned to the brig, whereupon he tossed her back into her cell. She landed like a ragdoll, all splayed out, aft in the air.

He left her there, not even bothering with the energy bars. She wouldn’t be going anywhere. Not without help, anyway. He made a mental note to remind all of the somnophiliacs in the ranks that she was not to leave the brig.


	21. Chapter 21

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So very sorry for taking so long to update this. If you've been reading Unexpected Gifts, you know that I got hit hard with depression last year and lost all ability to write. So, I know I said at the beginning of this story that it would update on Wednesdays, but I think I'm going to start trading off Sundays between this one and the aforementioned fic, depending on which one I have ready that week. I sincerely hope that I can keep up with this schedule now that I've gotten back to writing, and I hope I don't disappoint with the content.

Jazz was more than glad that they hadn’t had to go in and rescue Aurora. Something about this deal stunk, but then, dealing with Megatron always did.

Ravage had been forced into cassette form with a mode-lock on and waited under Jazz’s arm for the exchange to take place. He had _not_ been happy about that and had growled and snapped at Rivet until the manual transformation stopped him. He still growled every so often, just to let them know he wouldn’t forget or forgive this transgression against his person.

The Decepticons finally showed up, landing a couple hundred metres away. Aurora hung limply over Soundwave’s shoulder, doorwings bobbing loosely with every minute movement. Something was wrong, and suddenly Jazz was very glad that Prowl had been left at base for this transfer. It was going to be bad enough with the twins present, but they had insisted they come along. Just in case.

Calliper stood next to him, ready just in case Aurora was damaged. “She’s unconscious,” she whispered to Jazz. “Either she was too much for them to handle, they just didn’t want to transport a conscious prisoner, or it was a botched interrogation. I’m betting on the last.”

“Think Soundwave hacked her?”

“Could be. We’ve seen what he can do there in medical. He’s messed some ‘bots up bad.”

“Well, let’s just get this over with. Sunstreaker, Sideswipe, cover me.” He stepped out in front of the small group. “Soundwave! I’ve got Ravage here. You know how these things go. Let’s get this done and we can go back to our respective bases.”

They both walked toward each other, prisoner in hand, until they met at the halfway point. Jazz set Ravage down and took the mode-lock off and the recordicon immediately transformed, growling and snapping at Jazz. He managed to get a swipe of claws into the saboteur’s arm, drawing thin lines of energon through the armour.

“Ravage: status report.”

With one last snap at the black and white mech, he returned to cassette mode and Soundwave’s chest cavity, presumably to give his report on his treatment as an Autobot prisoner.

“You’ve got yours back, I want mine,” Jazz said evenly.

Soundwave was hardly gentle as he took Aurora off his shoulder and practically threw her at Jazz. As soon as the transfer was complete, the Decepticons took off without a single look back.

The majority of Jazz’s attention was on the femme in his arms. So was all of Calliper’s. The twins watched the sky until there was no trace of Decepticon activity, then their attention was split between her and the landscape as well.

“She’s got a twisted sensory panel, but that looks like that’s her only physical damage. As for mental damage, I can’t tell until we get her back to Iacon, but I’m betting it’s not good. Who knows what Soundwave put her through. Her autonomic systems are still working, which is good, but her mind is shut away. I can’t access it,” the medic said after jacking into the medical port on the back of Aurora’s neck.

“Ya mean she’s unconscious.”

“No, Jazz. I mean she shut her mind down, probably to keep Soundwave or Vortex from finding anything out. All neural pathways are shut down; there’s no way into her mind any more. I can’t wake her up. Unless Ratchet knows how to bring her back, she’s essentially brain dead. I don’t think anyone else has the skills.” Her visor dimmed sadly. “I’m sorry, Sideswipe, Sunstreaker. I know you were close.”

“We’ll wait until Ratchet’s done trying before we’ll mourn for her,” Jazz said. The twins nodded firmly along with him. “Let’s get her back to base.”

“I’ll carry her,” Sideswipe said. Calliper moved back to give the frontliner some space. The red mech gathered Aurora up in his arms and began the long walk back to base, Sunstreaker right beside him. “You guys coming?”

*

**::Boss, we’re bringing her in. Keep Prowl occupied. It’s not good,::** Jazz commed Optimus directly.

**::I believe he is still waiting at the entrance. He’s been there since your group left and he won’t leave. I would have to physically move him, and that would tip him off that something’s wrong.::**

**::Wonderful. Guess I'll have to think of something. Out.::** “A’ight, mechs,” he said out loud. “Prowl’s waitin’ at the entrance. Get her down to Medical and don’ stop for anything, no matter what you hear.”

Calliper looked sternly at the third in command. “You’re going to do something stupid, aren’t you?”

Jazz grinned at her. “Mebbe,” he said, all innocence and light.

The femme rolled her optics. “Don’t come crying to me when he hands your aft to ya, you hear me?”

Jazz flapped a hand dismissively. “Sure, sure. I’ll just go see Rivet; he’ll fix me right up.”

She snorted. “He would, too. Damn his soft spark.” Her words held nothing but affection for the mech.

“Aurora!” Prowl’s voice carried heavy notes of concern when he saw that Sideswipe was carrying her. Jazz moved to intercept him before he could make it to the frontliner’s side.

“Prowl, ol’ buddy! How ‘bout we go talk revenge on the ‘Cons?” Jazz grabbed hold of the strategist’s wrist as he started to pass the visored mech by. Prowl yanked at the hold, but Jazz held fast.

Sideswipe, Sunstreaker, and Calliper were moving down the corridor at a fast clip, and Prowl wanted nothing more than to be there with them, carrying his bonded instead of watching their backs move further away. He pulled at the grip on his wrist again, sharper this time and with a little bit of a twist, but Jazz held on for dear life.

“Jazz, I do not wish to hurt you. Let go.”

“No can do, Prowler.”

Prowl’s optics narrowed. He pulled the saboteur toward him, off-balance, and _twisted_ in his grasp. As he did, he took hold of the other mech’s wrist and pulled his arm up behind his back. Jazz grunted in pain and Prowl let go, turning to follow the others down to Medical.

Jazz tackled him around the waist, one hand gripping a sensory panel hard. Prowl staggered and tried to flick his wing up and away from the Special Ops mech, but Jazz was just as stubborn as he and simply dug his fingers in harder. Prowl winced; the mech had trapped a sensor node between his fingers and the pressure was almost enough to put him down.

Prowl rotated his upper half around and clocked Jazz across the side of his helm. The _tink_ of glass cracking made itself heard and Jazz’s hand fell away from Prowl’s sensory panel. He righted himself and made it all of three running steps away before Jazz took him out at the knees. He turned his fall into a roll and came up swinging. Jazz blocked every punch and dodged the kicks aimed at his head.

“What happened to ‘I don’ wannna hurt ya’?”

Prowl blew a deep vent out. “You brought this on yourself.”

“Well, yeah, but y’ain’t pullin’ your punches any more.”

Prowl’s wing gave a throb and he resolved to finish this quickly. He really _didn’t_ want to hurt Jazz, but the mech wouldn’t let him go to check on his bonded, which probably meant she was in bad condition, which made him irrational and angry. The next time he and Jazz clashed, he got hold of a sensory horn and crushed it, then as Jazz was reeling from that, he followed up with a roundhouse kick to the side of his helm. Glass shattered and Jazz dropped strutless to the ground.

Prowl turned and fled to Medical, putting in a call on his way about Jazz’s condition.

*

They passed Rivet and Driveline heading out just before the doors to Medical loomed. Calliper reasoned that Jazz had indeed done something stupid and was now paying for it. She just hoped that he’d delayed Prowl long enough.

“In here,” Calliper waved to Sideswipe from a private room. “Lay her down on the table, then get out. I need to check her over fully. Ratchet, you stay put!” she shouted at the CMO as he started to scoot off the berth he sat on. He gave her a sour look. “You’re still recovering from a chest wound and surgery. No, you’re not getting up. Jumpstart! Our patient is getting restless. Keep an optic on him, yeah?”

“Sure thing.” The minibot medic began a rant that would blister any mech’s audials.

The twins exchanged a look and grinned. Not even Ratchet was safe from the small medic’s temper.

“Keep Prowl out, would you two? At least until I’m done with my examination.”

“Suure.”

“We’ll try,” the red mech said. “Mech can be downright scary, though.”

“I thought scary was _your_ stock in trade… Maybe you’re not cut out for the job, after all.” She smirked, arching a brow ridge.

Sideswipe’s expression hardened. “We’ll keep him busy.”

*

Calliper catalogued every injury on Aurora’s frame, no matter how minor. She cleaned the other femme up as she went. She noted from the scuff marks and little dents there that the pale chest armour had been pulled apart to bare her spark, then pushed back together. The newspark orbiting her spark was recorded and left alone for the time being. It would be a topic to bring up at a later date with Aurora, or with Prowl if they couldn’t get Aurora back online.

A ruckus went up outside the room; Prowl had clearly arrived. She could hear Ratchet and Jumpstart shouting and the roaring of a furious mech among the crashing sounds. Sideswipe and Sunstreaker were quiet, but Calliper could hear the grunts they made when they were thrown against the wall. She swiftly made sure the door was locked and scrambled the code just in case.

When she slid Aurora’s interface panel aside, she couldn’t help but make a face in revulsion. Gummy, sticky transfluid slithered slowly out, landing on the table in globs with wet plops. Streaks of energon were mixed in with the congealed transfluid, meaning her valve had torn at some point, which meant minor surgery to fix it. She shook her head disgustedly and let out a long stream of curses at the barbarism and depravity of Decepticons. She slid around the room on her stool, gathering tools, then settled in and began to meticulously clean out and repair the unconscious femme.


	22. Chapter 22

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so terribly sorry for taking so fragging long to update this. This chapter's been sitting in my google docs for over a month now, and I'm just now uploading it. Bad Gelfling.

Optimus Prime stood silently outside the brig cell, watching his second in command furiously pace the tiny space behind the bars. The black and white muttered to himself constantly, a string of words that the Prime couldn’t make out, but they didn’t really sound Cybertronian.

Red Alert stood beside him, sensor horns sparking in what would have been a truly beautiful lightshow if it had been on purpose. The half-words and sputterings from his mouth nearly sounded like whatever Prowl was spouting.

“Red Alert,” Optimus murmured. “Calm yourself. You’ll do no one any good in this condition.”

There was a loud sputter, then the mech threw up his hands and went and steamed in the chair behind the controls for the cells.

He was overworked and overstressed, Optimus knew, what with Prowl’s bonding and now Jazz being out of commission for the last couple of days. There wasn’t much for it, though, since there were only so many who could perform their jobs.

Prowl had yet to acknowledge anyone who had come to visit him in the last two days. He hadn’t recharged or refuelled at all. He paced, and occasionally rested his helm upon the wall when he took a short break from his pacing. His doorwings were held low and twitched constantly.

It had taken both of the twins, Jumpstart, Rivet, and Optimus to subdue the Praxian enough to get him down to the brig. Optimus absently wondered why Prowl didn’t fight as a frontliner on the battlefield, then remembered that he was more talented with strategy and tactics. He frowned. Maybe he should get Prowl to train some more of their ranks in hand to hand combat?

Anyhow, that was for another day.

“Prowl,” he said, voice calm. “Will you behave if I take you to see Aurora?”

The Praxian paced for another couple of minutes, doorwings twitching, still muttering to himself. He slowed as his bonded’s name breached his mind, then stopped and looked at Optimus with haunted optics. “You will take me to see her?” he rasped out.

“You must follow all orders to the letter, or you will wind up right back here. But as long as you do, yes, I will take you to her.”

“Then let us go,” Prowl said.

Optimus nodded at Red Alert, and the energy bars dissipated. He stepped forward and held out a pair of heavy-duty handcuffs. Prowl eyed them, then sighed and held out his hands. The cuffs tightened around his wrists and Optimus stepped back to allow the black and white to exit the cell.

“She’s still unconscious,” the Prime said conversationally as they walked toward Medical. “The medics are thinking Soundwave tried to hack her.”

“That is... _unfortunate_ for Soundwave,” Prowl stated, voice icy.

They walked the rest of the way in uncomfortable silence. At least on Prime’s end. Prowl’s framespeak and EM field weren’t conducive to conversation, and Optimus really had no idea what to say to his second, anyway. What _could_ he say to a mech whose bonded was in unknown condition?

Finally the Medbay loomed before them. The doors _whooshed_ open to admit them. Ratchet and Rivet looked up from their positions in the main room, the former’s optics narrowing when he saw Prowl.

“You’d better not cause us any more problems,” Ratchet snapped, brandishing the tool he was using.

Prowl raised his cuffed hands. “I doubt I could do much. I am only here to see Aurora.”

The CMO chuffed and pointed him at a room, then turned back to what he’d been doing.

Optimus followed Prowl to the room, but stayed outside the door. “I need to get back to work. _Stay here_. You’ll be escorted back to the brig later. Do _not_ give the mech trouble.”

“Yes, sir,” Prowl replied. The door closed behind him, and a few seconds later, it sounded a lock chime.

Optimus approached the medberth where Ratchet was working on Jazz. The saboteur was lazily kicking his feet back and forth as he sat on the edge, watching as Ratchet ran diagnostics on his new visor.

“Heya, Prime. How’s things holdin’ up?”

“Red Alert is stressed out, but otherwise not terrible. I do wish you hadn’t gotten yourself scrapped, though.”

Ratchet grumbled something just under hearing range, but whatever it was, it didn’t sound favourable.

“Was either that or let Prowl see her in the state she was in. I chose th’ less destructive one.”

“Says you,” Ratchet said and thumped Jazz on the helm.

“Aw, Ratch. You’d’a never got rid of him if he’d seen her then. I did ya a favour.”

“Do you want this visor or not? I’m perfectly happy to leave the broken one where it is until you admit what an idiot you were.”

“Hey, I can usually hold my own against him!” Jazz protested.

“Ratchet, was it necessary to lock Prowl in the room?” Optimus interrupted before the two could really get going.

“Yes,” both Ratchet and Rivet replied loudly.

He blinked. “I see.”

“Is that all? If so, get out of my medbay.”

“Yes, Ratchet.”

*

Prowl pushed the single chair over to the side of the berth Aurora lay on, then sat heavily. She looked as she usually did, like she was just sleeping, though she didn’t wake when he touched her arm. Her EM field was almost nonexistent.

He sat there for a long while, stroking what he could reach of her arm with both of his hands bound together. Eventually, his optics began to shutter and his field smoothed out from the prickly fury of earlier into the calm steadiness of recharge.

He dreamed.

Of Soundwave, beaten down to kneeling as Prowl decided his fate. Of Aurora looking on with vengeful glee writ across her features.

Of Ratchet.

He woke with tears in his optics, unaware of exactly _why_. He knew that he’d dreamed of his former lover, but couldn’t recall what those dreams were about. He _missed_ Ratchet, more than he’d realised. He wanted to talk to the medic, but didn’t want to be rejected again, even though he’d been much easier to talk to of late. After his little stunt here in the medbay, though, Ratchet would undoubtedly be rather angry with him.

He almost got up to go talk to Ratchet, but remembered that he’d been locked in and probably would be until his escort arrived to return him to the brig. He settled back into the chair, pulling his hands away from his bondmate’s unresponsive body.

After a while of silent contemplation, he pinged Ratchet’s comm.

He wasn’t really expecting an answer, so when the medic came back with a surly “what?”, he was surprised into not answering for a brief moment.

**::Are you busy?::** he asked.

**::Not at the moment. Why?::**

**::I wanted to ask how Aurora is.::**

Ratchet sighed. **::Calliper cleaned her up and took care of her injuries. I don’t know too much about her condition right now. I can look into it, though.::**

**::I would appreciate that. Thank you, Ratchet.::** He poured all of his gratitude into the words.

**::Anything else?::**

**::Ratchet, I… I’m so sorry I hurt you. And I’m sorry for wrecking your medbay.::**

Silence stretched out uncomfortably.

**::You were worried about your bondmate. I’d probably have done the same,::** came the quiet answer.

**::That doesn’t excuse my behaviour.::**

**::You’re not good at controlling your emotions when they run high. Never have been. I knew that going into the relationship. And I knew it was entirely possible that you’d succumb to that damned Praxian social coding eventually, especially since we never bonded. This really isn’t a conversation for comms, though.::**

The door unlocked and Ratchet entered the room. Prowl’s mouth went dry at the sight of his former lover. His plating gleamed brightly, no trace of his usual overworking habits in sight.

“Don’t give me that look,” Ratchet said without looking up from the datapad he held.

“Apologies, Ratchet,” Prowl said, voice slightly husky. He cycled his vocaliser. “You know me far too well.”

“I should; we’ve only been together for a few _centuries_. How much do you want to know? About Aurora’s condition, that is.”

“Everything you can tell me.”

“It’s not pleasant.”

“When is being a Decepticon prisoner ever pleasant?”

“Point. Calliper’s notes say she was ‘physically abused’, which is her speak for raped in this case, probably repeatedly, though she had no defensive marks on her. So it probably happened after she went and locked her mind away, assumedly after Soundwave tried to hack her. Until I can get in there and convince her that she’s safe and can return, we won’t know exactly what happened while she was with the ‘Cons.”

“Please do.”

Ratchet sighed. “It may take some time, depending on what Soundwave did to her. I don’t know if I’ll be done by the time you have to return to the brig.”

“Just try?” Prowl practically begged. “I need to feel her again.”

“All right.” Another note at the bottom of the datapad caught his attention. “Did you know she’s sparked?”

Prowl looked pained. “I did. We had just discovered it before she was taken. She wanted a few days to think about what she wanted before bringing it to you or Rivet. We weren’t expecting it at all.”

Ratchet hummed in response as he plugged in to Aurora’s systems. “You know, I’ve heard of Gestarth sparking with mechs in whispers and rumours, but I’ve never actually _seen_ a case.”

“Normally, there wouldn’t be sparkplay involved with a mech, as you well know. But this is an unusual situation.”

“That it certainly is. Now be shoosh so I can concentrate and try to get your bondmate back to you.”

Prowl nodded and retreated to the chair in the room. He sat on the edge, doorwings twitching anxiously every so often as Ratchet worked.


End file.
